


Turning of Derry

by Writer_Markilyn



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Blood Drinking, Character Death, Drug Use, Eddie Kaspbrak Has a Crush, Eddie Kaspbrak is a Mess, F/M, First Kiss, Gun Violence, HE'S A SMART BOI, Just pot people, M/M, Minor OC - Freeform, Miscommunication, No Major Character Death, Not a Twilight AU lmao, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Richie Tozier Flirts, Richie Tozier Has a Sister, Richie Tozier Is Smart, Richie Tozier is a Dork, Slow Burn-ish, Supernatural Elements, Teen Romance, Teenage Drama, Vampire!Richie Tozier, y is that not a tag???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-25 18:52:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 67,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21361009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writer_Markilyn/pseuds/Writer_Markilyn
Summary: The giant iron gates that separated the isolated mansion tucked between the hills and the small town of Derry, opened, and the kid who lived in that mansion joined Eddie's school in his junior year.Richie Tozier was certainly intimidating to look at the first glance; standing tall and somewhat gangly like a willow tree, impassive stares by dark, depthless eyes, and dark clothes to match.Despite the appearance, Richie was friendly and funny and much to Eddie's annoyance, his first crush.  He just didn't know there was so much more below the surface of Richie Tozier than what was expressed.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 118
Kudos: 250





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Idk, meant to post this during the spooky month, but was in a slump :/
> 
> It's gonna be a slow process, but I hope you all like it! c:
> 
> Also, I apologize this chapter is SUPER short aldfkjdljf

Fall was here, school was in session, same old, same old. Eddie grew bored of it when he became more self-aware as he got older, he figured out his medications his mother had him take were fakes, he had no illnesses, no asthma, nothing when he was 13; it had been devastating, yet relieving.

His friends he had since he had met in elementary school had stuck with him through thick and thin, listened to all his whining and his attitudes, they were the best people Eddie ever had the greatest pleasure of meeting.

He hoped that they would be friends after they graduated too, it was their junior year of high school, so they had a couple more years, but Eddie was still paranoid of the unknown of the future.

The newest unknow that joined his first day of junior year was in the shape of a tall boy with pale skin, wild, dark curly hair, and even darker eyes that seemed to just stare through you.

Eddie was fucking _terrified…_yet oddly intrigued.

“This is Richie Tozier, he will be joining us this year, please be courteous and help a fellow peer in need, should he have any questions,” Eddie’s English teacher said to her students that morning, in a tone that was almost a warning one to be nice or else.

_Isn’t it her job to do that?_ Eddie thought as he observed his new classmate, who shared first period with him and Eddie’s friend Stan.

Richie Tozier didn’t say anything, let alone even acknowledge the full classroom, he simply followed his teacher’s command to sit at the empty desk that was diagonal to Eddie’s, it was the second desk closest to the door, it would have been for another kid, but his class had been informed that Andy Cruz had in fact moved.

Eddie was pretty sure no one knew who the fuck Andy Cruz was, even though they were apparently in the same grade, but whatever, that kid didn’t matter to Eddie though, so the name was forgotten as quickly as it was spoke; in one ear and out the other.

Stan was sat behind Richie, he side-eyed Eddie and wrinkled his nose.

Eddie bit at his lip to stifle the giggle. When he glanced over to Richie, his heart froze, those dark eyes peered at him and Eddie felt like a mouse trapped in the gaze of large snake that was just waiting for Eddie’s next move.

Pale red lips pulled into a small evil smirk briefly before Richie turned away to face the chalkboard. He didn’t look at Eddie after that, when the bell rang, dismissing them to their next class, he gathered his things and melted into the crowd.

Stan stood by Eddie’s desk, “What had that been about?” he asked softly.

“I don’t know, but he’s creepy,” Eddie shivered and collected his things to follow Stan out of class.

But despite that, Eddie couldn’t help think about that new kid for the rest of the day.

~~~

It was the end of the day, it was Eddie’s study hall, which he didn’t share with any of his Losers, but the new kid, who had taken the far seat from the door in the corner, keeping to himself.

Eddie wasn’t staring…he was just worried that new kid didn’t have any friends and the last thing this town needed was a massacre. He awkwardly shuffled over to the free desk by Richie, as the other students seemed to…avoid him, and he sat his things down, Eddie saw that Richie was giving him a curious look, “Uh...h-hi," Eddie said.

Richie gave a slight tilt of his head of acknowledgment, “Hello.”

“You’re the new kid…obviously,” Eddie spoke, his voice had a small nervous tremor to it. He saw that Richie was giving him an amused look. He startled when he heard their teacher speak and told the class to keep quiet, he rolled his eyes and Richie chuckled.

Richie leaned over, till he was in Eddie’s space, “Obviously so,” he murmured.

Eddie swallowed nervously, he could feel warmth coming to his cheeks and he hastily averted his gaze, “O-obviously,” he repeated and felt embarrassed when Richie just huffed out a small laugh at him.

Richie’s dark eyes glittered like gems, his small smile was a teasing one, “You’re so shy,” he whispered, propping his head in his hand and laughed softly again when Eddie merely blushed. His eyes followed the color, he found himself counting the freckles spread across Eddie’s lightly tanned face, the adorable cluster of them that were speckled across the bridge of his nose.

“What?” Eddie frowned at him and felt more insulted that Richie just continued to give him an entertained look, because it was like he was being left out on a joke. “You’re so weird,” he sighed.

“Mr. Kaspbrak,” his study hall teacher chided, she glowered at him from over the novel she was reading.

Eddie shrunk in his seat, mumbling an apology. He shot Richie a dirty look when the taller boy was giving him a teasing grin and he watched Richie quickly cover his mouth with his hand, “Asshole,” he muttered, but a small smile playing at his lips.

Richie winked at him; he opened his notebook to an empty page and pushed it between them and sketched out hangman and dashed out the amount of spaces he had picked for his word. He saw Eddie’s confused look and Richie leaned back to whisper in his ear, “I’ll give you a hint; it’s what I want to do when I get older.”

Eddie knew his face was red again, but made himself look down at the lines and counted eight dashes, which had him frowning because he didn’t know any careers off the top of his head that had eight letters. He gave Richie a confused look and Eddie felt himself scowl when Richie smiled innocently at him, “You’re horrible,” he muttered. “I don’t know anything about you.”

“Well, you’ll learn one thing,” Richie replied and tapped his pen twice on the paper to get Eddie to get a move on. 

Eddie sighed, the bubbles of uneasy starting in his belly, especially when Richie seemed to watch him the whole time with a faint smile on his face, and what really made him nervous was that Richie didn’t seem to blink once.

~~~

“A fucking _comedian_?” Eddie was outraged that it took him about fifty-five minutes to get it, which had been the whole period; he got it two minutes before the final bell.

Richie cackled, practically skipping as he walked backwards to look at Eddie, “Crazy, right?” he beamed.

“I bet you’re not even that funny,” Eddie muttered. “No offence, but you look like you kill people for the fun of it. You just get scary stoic looking.”

Richie hummed, coming to a stop, “Sorry, did I make you uncomfortable?” he asked, lips turning down somewhat.

“N-no,” Eddie spluttered quickly, shaking his head. “I did have fun with you today! I’m sorry…my friends are right about me; I am very brash and honest. I’m sorry if I upset you.”

“No, you didn’t,” Richie reassured him, a smile pulling back onto his face. He winked at Eddie, “I like honesty. There isn’t much of it these days, I suppose,” he confessed. He cocked his head to the side, face going blank for a moment before looking back at Eddie, the smile on his face again, “Sorry, I forgot I’m in a rush, I’ll catch you later, Eds!” he chirped before spinning away and easily melting into the herd of kids headings outside.

Before Eddie could bitch about how he didn’t like the nickname, he heard Stan calling for him and he turned around; weird timing, he thought. He waved at his friend and saw Bill, Beverly, and Ben were following after him, “Hey, guys.”

“Were you talking to the new-new kid,” Beverly asked Eddie before she glanced at Ben and winked at him, seeing him blush. “He sure left in a hurry,” she noted when she looked back to Eddie.

“Yea…he’s weird,” Eddie told her. “But he’s actually pretty nice.”

Ben looked at Eddie with a hopeful expression, “Did you want to ask him to hang out with us?”

“Sorry, he left before I could say anything,” Eddie replied sheepishly. “I’ll ask him tomorrow in English or something.”

“Good luck,” Stan scoffed, “that’s if Ms. Birch doesn’t cut your tongue out for disrupting class.”

“W-we cuh-can talk a-about this at th-the l-loft,” Bill told him. “M-M-Mike is w-waiting for uh-us.”

The loft at Mike’s was their new hangout, since most of them were too tall to get into the clubhouse anymore.

“Right,” Stan looked apologetic. He nudged Eddie’s shoulder with his own and the pair followed after the rest of their friends, “Why are you so beat up about it?”

“I’m not,” Eddie hotly replied, feeling himself getting a little defensive. “I just don’t like how he got to me so…so easily,” he muttered lowly. He hurried to his bike when he saw it and undid the padlock, he heard Stan ask him what he meant by that, but Eddie was already hopping onto his bike and peddling away; he couldn’t help but feel as if he were being watched and he glanced over to the woods and thought he saw a pale face among the tree trunks, but when he blinked, he didn’t see anything out the ordinary.

Eddie hurried on his bike towards his house, since he knew that Bill would come by and pick them all up.

He hoped that Stan wouldn’t bring up his panicked mood to everyone else.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bc chapter 1 was so short, I won't wait till next Friday to post. I have about seven chapters pre-written. I'm gonna be honest chapters 1-3 are baby chapters, so I'll go ahead and post those 3 chaps.
> 
> Those of you who like this fic, I hope you'll enjoy chapter 4 that'll be posted next Friday, because it's a fujkin HUGE chapter 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy! c:
> 
> Also, A Separate Peace was one of my fave books in school, so if you're reading it or plan on reading it, there are spoilers at the end.

When the next day had come, Eddie wondered if Richie would talk to him more openly, or at least acknowledge him, but Richie didn’t speak to him in first period. He didn’t take it personally, Ms. Birch really did like her silence and it didn’t help that she kept looking over at him, as he was really jittery today. Eddie knew they had lunch together as everyone who shared first and third periods with each other had B lunch, so perhaps they could talk then.

When lunch time finally swung around, Eddie had peered around the cafeteria for a mop of black curly hair, but he didn’t find him anywhere, he heard Beverly ask him what the matter was, but he mumbled that it was nothing. His already cardboard tasting lunch tasted extra bland and he tossed his barely touched cheese burger back onto his tray and sulked a little until the end of the lunch period.

“Eddie,” Stan called he saw Eddie freeze in place and he hurried to catch up with his friend. “Hey,” he frowned, “are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been weird since yesterday.”

“I wasn’t being weird, I’m fine,” Eddie replied, although a bit glumly. “I just…dunno, just got randomly sad,” he shrugged halfheartedly.

Stan was still frowning, “Are you sure that’s all?”

“Yea, really,” Eddie said quickly, smiling reassuringly; it felt really fake on his face.

Stan gave him a doubtful look, “This isn’t because of Tozier, is it?”

“W-who? What’s a toaster” Eddie stammered and started to sweat nervously when Stan pinned him with a stern look. He sighed heavily, shoulders slumping in defeat, “What about him?”

“I watched you practically stare a damn hole into the side of his head all during English,” Stan bluntly stated. The amused smile slid across his face when Eddie was spluttering an excuse, “Do you just have a crush?”

“_Crush_?” Eddie shrilled, getting a few looks from some passing peers. He lowered his voice, “No, it’s not like that, we, uh, I have study hall with him, he just seemed…lonely, so I figured to strike up the courage and make another friend. He looks like he could use some friends.”

“Yea, and he ran away before you could even ask him to hang out with us, so he sounds like he’s not interested,” Stan reminded him, though he tried to be gentle about it, but Eddie was still frowning at him.

“He was in a rush yesterday,” Eddie defended him and felt his face get hot again when Stan arched an eyebrow at him.

“He skipped lunch again, pretty weird thing to do when you two are striking up a companionship,” Stan shrugged. He saw that Eddie was getting upset, “I’m sorry, Eddie, I’m not trying to be a dick, but he just seems…weird and unsettling. Mike said that he lives in that mansion on the hill. You know that place, right? The gates had _always_ been closed and no one has moved in there recently and suddenly they’re open and he’s here.”

“Maybe he was homeschooled too and decided that he wanted to be a normal kid,” Eddie argued. “I know your skeptical about stuff, I’m the same way, but really, Stan, he just…I don’t know, we’ve all been in his place before; being an outcast. I just wanted to try reaching out this time, bring a new person into our group, because even though he’d be a Loser with us, it’s better than facing a bully alone.

Stan nodded understandingly, “You’re right…I’m sorry,” he ducked his head, ashamed. He felt Eddie nudge his shoulder playfully, “He and I share social studies and earth science, so I’ll try to make small talk with him, which shouldn’t be too hard for our science class; we have labs next week, I’ll ask him to be my partner.”

Eddie thanked him for being a team player.

~~~

“You know, you can talk to Stan and I before class starts, or hang out with us at lunch, our other friends are curious about you,” was the first thing Eddie said when he dropped into the empty seat next to Richie in study hall, who had a _Separate_ _Peace_ open in front of him, and Eddie knew it was part of their assignment in English. 

Richie perked up, putting a bookmark in his place before shutting the small novel, “Ms. Birch, quite frankly, is a bitch,” he stated. He saw that Eddie looked a little unhappy, “I guess I could come in earlier; you and Stan are usually the first two in class.”

“How do you know that?” Eddie asked him. He narrowed his eyes when Richie gave him a sly smile, “What’s with that face?”

“You both are just nerds,” Richie teased. “I’d be surprised if you two weren’t the first two in class.”

“Mr. Tozier, Mr. Kaspbrak,” their study hall teacher drawled. “Do you have something to share with the class?”

“No, ma’am,” Eddie sighed and apologized; this was his second warning from this same teacher, even if the first had been the other day.

Richie just fixed her with a blank stare until she looked away first, to which he then glanced at Eddie, “Why do you apologize to your teachers so much? Is she teaching? No, she sits in a that chair she believes is her throne and reads her soft-porn novel, because her actual love life is next to nothing,” he sneered.

Eddie gawked at him; this boy was _trouble_ and to his greatest shock, Eddie didn’t care. This kid said whatever he wanted and took shit from no one, not even teachers, which Eddie couldn’t even fathom. He lowered his voice, “Why’re you in public school?”

“A bit invasive, yeah?” Richie smirked, arching an eyebrow at him. He saw that Eddie was genuinely interested, “It’s not really school appropriate,” he dismissed, looking away from Eddie, tempted to open his book again and read ahead as he had been earlier.

Eddie hummed quietly, “I bet you were homeschooled and one of the creepy mentors that teach you tried to molest you,” he said and the girl diagonally from them looked over her shoulder at them, giving Eddie a bewildered expression.

Richie let out a startled laugh that had the other students looking up from their work and their teacher was getting an angry flush on her face, but he merely gave her a charming smile, “Funny part of the book, teach, you should check it out,” he said, gesturing to the book on his desk.

“There is no funny part in that book,” a boy in their English class said with a scowl. “Finny dies at the end.”

There was a collective gasp.

“Jamie Coles!” their teacher exclaimed.

“Ms. Hammond, I—”

“Out in the hall, Mr. Coles,” their study hall teacher pointed to the door.

“Oof,” Richie said sympathetically and heard Eddie snicker, he shot Eddie a bright smile. “I know my memes, despite being homeschooled, Eds.”

“Don’t call me Eds, but you now have something in common with my friend Mike, which brings up that my friends want to meet you,” Eddie said and heard Richie hum softly. He gave Richie an incredulous stare, “Do you already know them or something?”

“It’s not them, I’m just…not really a clique guy,” Richie actually seemed to struggle to get the words out. He saw how crestfallen Eddie looked and he sighed in defeat, “You know,” he started, “it’s not fair to use your eyes as a weapon, especially towards people like me.”

“So you’ll suck it up, stop being such a lone wolf and come sit with me and my friends?” Eddie asked him, words practically rushing out into one word. He saw the amusement on Richie’s face and Eddie fought back a blush.

“Whatever you want,” Richie’s eyes twinkled gleefully when Eddie looked relieved. He wouldn’t regret this, because it brought him happiness to see Eddie so giddy, he could learn how to be social amongst his peers.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okie, posted the short chaps! 
> 
> I will post chapter 4 next Friday, thank you all for reading!! c:

As promised, Richie turned in his seat as soon as Stan and Eddie sat down at their desks in English; he had been the first one in the class, slightly reviewing notes for the upcoming prefix quiz that they’d have today.

“You’re actually in here early,” Eddie said in sheer disbelief as he pulled out his notes as well.

Richie winked at Eddie, “Guess I took your guy's thunder, sorry,” he apologized insincerely and looked over to Stan. “Nice to meet you, Stan the Man, we haven’t been formally introduced, but as you may obviously know already that I am Richie Tozier. Formerly homeschooled, active in public school, uhm, my hobbies are enjoying long walks on the beach and waxing poetry under a moonlit sky and my favorite food is Italian.”

Stan merely blinked at Richie, “You are certainly not who I imagined you to be. I thought Eddie was making things up about you, because you literally are the quietest person in class.”

“I apologize in advance if you had any certain expectations, but I do live to disappoint once people get to know me,” Richie’s smile was a bit tight and he saw Stan shrug at him.

“Welcome to the Losers Club then, we’ve all failed our parents and peers somehow,” Stan replied, giving Richie an inviting smile and saw the dark-haired boy relax.

Eddie felt the nerves that had been choking him immediately shrivel and die when Richie gave Stan one of his most earnest smiles that it actually lit up his eyes. He looked back at Richie and gave him a small encouraging smile of his own, nodding at Stan before looking down at his notes to review, enjoying the sound of soft laughter Richie managed to pull out of Stan ever so often.

The quiz was easy and then it was filling out a packet of questions regarding the four chapters of the book they were assigned to read and Eddie had just finished his last chapter, about to start on his packet when he glanced up to see how Stan and Richie were doing, Stan had just started on page two of his packet, but Richie was flipping the last page over before sliding out of his chair to turn it into Ms. Birch before sitting back down.

Eddie was quite surprised to see him done so early and was somewhat concerned that Richie had just bullshit his answers. He worried at his bottom lip before telling himself to focus on his own work, he’d ask Richie later about it, because the last thing he wanted was for one of his friends to be flunking a class.

~~~

Now here was the other worrying part, it was lunch time and Eddie was at his locker; he stuffed his belongings in his locker and pulled out the money he needed for lunch before shutting his locker door and jumped when suddenly Richie was there, the same familiar amused glint in his eyes, “Jesus, Richie!” he gasped before glaring up at the taller boy.

“You’re just so easy to sneak up on,” Richie teased, rocking back on his heels, clapping his Converse together noisily, which had Eddie wrinkling his nose in annoyance at the loud sound. “C’mon, at this rate we’ll be the last to be in the cafeteria and you’ll get stuck with the shitty stuff.”

Eddie hurried after him, mainly due to Richie having a longer stride than him, “Where do you even go for lunch?” he asked. “I never see you there.”

Richie gave him a teasing smile, “Oh? Do you actively look for me?” he questioned and he laughed softly when Eddie merely ducked his head. “I go outside,” he replied earnestly. He held the cafeteria door open for his friend and he heard Eddie ask him why he chose to be outside in the cold and Richie shrugged, before nodding to the vast number of students, “It’s just too loud in here.”

Eddie frowned, “You could get sick,” he replied, taking in that Richie only wore a thin, black hoodie and ripped jeans. “You should dress warmer if you’re going outside for forty minutes.”

“Okay, _mom_,” Richie teased and heard Eddie scoff. 

The line moved sluggishly and Eddie wasn’t for sure what to say anymore, but it seemed that Richie was content with the silence, even though he had a slight glazed look on his face and Eddie gawked.

“Richie, are you fucking _high_?” Eddie demanded softly, gripping Richie’s arm and felt the taller boy’s arm tense in his hold. He saw the confusion on Richie’s face and tried not to feel a little upset that Richie pulled away from him, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to cross a line or something…” he muttered.

“I smoke pot,” Richie confirmed, “but not here,” he tacked on when he saw Eddie’s bewildered expression. “What? It’s 2019, dude. Pot is still a thing and so is the no-touching zone,” he huffed and saw that Eddie looked ashamed. Richie sighed quietly, “I’m not mad, okay? Just…just warn a guy,” he admonished gently.

Eddie nodded, still mumbling another apology and hurried and grabbed his food when he saw that he was next in line. He barely looked at the bland pizza, or the small cup of peaches, he grabbed a small carton of chocolate milk that was more watery than chocolatey, but he was still too upset with himself to care.

Richie had pretty much grabbed the same stuff Eddie did, he was fortunate enough that Eddie didn’t catch him staring after what Eddie had put on his own tray. He paid the lunch lady and followed after Eddie, he recognized Stan, who offered him a small smile, as he and Eddie approached the table that had three other boys and one girl there already.

Eddie dropped his tray onto the table, sliding onto one of the rounded attached stools and Richie sat next to him. He saw the worried look that Stan was giving him and he shrugged at him, “Hey,” he greeted his friends and he hated how meek his voice came out. He heard Richie sigh softly before leaning into his space, nudging him lightly and Eddie looked over to him and saw that Richie was giving him a small grin.

“You adamantly demand that I meet your friends and sit with you, but you don’t want to introduce me?” Richie asked him playfully, nudging into Eddie’s side again and felt relieved when Eddie smiled at him.

“What, are you too shy?” Eddie taunted and heard Richie laugh, giving him a knowing look. Eddie rolled his eyes fondly, “Guys, this is Richie, Richie these are the Losers.”

“Beverly, I’ve seen you around new-new kid on the block,” Beverly winked at him, speaking up first.

“New-new?” Richie echoed, arching an eyebrow at her before his gaze when to Ben when Beverly jerked a thumb over at him. “Ooh, so you’re the new kid, sorry, didn’t mean to take your title,” he mused.

“Not an issue for me,” Ben replied, waving him off, his cheeks were still pinking from the attention. “I’m Ben, it’s nice to meet you Richie.”

“Likewise,” Richie winked; he wasn’t ashamed to admit that he a type and judging by the grin that Beverly was sporting, they could definitely take turns on making Ben blush.

“I-I’m B-Bill,” Bill smiled at Richie. “Ed-Eddie sp-spoke a lot a-a-about you.”

“Only good things, I hope,” Richie replied hopefully.

“You’re w-w-weird, h-he s-s-said,” Bill laughed and heard Eddie hissing at him to shut up.

Eddie flashed him an apologetic look, “You’re not weird…you’re just quiet, quieter than Stan, but your personality is totally different once you actually start talking.”

Richie laughed, looping an arm around Eddie’s shoulders, squeezing him close, listening to Eddie’s breath stutter, “Again, I live to disappoint,” he mused before letting Eddie go and tucked his arms together as he leaned forward onto his elbows. “So, I know your guys’ faces, I’m pretty sure I have a class with each of you.”

“Well, now we can all be each other partners for class assignments,” Stan said kindly.

“Mm, hate to say it, but I’m a pretty monogamous guy,” Richie chuckled and watched Stan roll his eyes.

Ben let out a startled laugh, quickly covering his mouth his hands, as Beverly cackled loudly at the joke, Bill almost spat out his milk, and both Stan and Eddie rolled their eyes.

After that, conversation was easy, Eddie sat back and nibbled at his pizza as Richie and Beverly chattered on about the bands that they listened to, Richie promised to listened to the newer bands Beverly was into.

“You got Twitter? I’ll DM you,” Beverly cheerily said.

Richie shook his head, “Not much a fan for social media, but I browse on there,” he replied and caught her phone as it slid across the table to him. He put in his number and slid the phone back to her, he felt his phone give a single vibrate in his pocket, “I’ll check them out when I get home.”

“Cool,” Beverly smiled, “and by the way, Stan, he’s being added to the group chat.”

“I was going to ask you to add him anyway,” Stan replied and went back to his conversation with Bill and Ben. 

Eddie tried to keep his joy concealed, because now he didn’t have to be awkward and ask for Richie’s number. He almost panicked because he thought he said that out loud, as Richie had turned and looked at him with a knowing smirk playing at his lips.

“Cute,” Richie murmured when he glanced over the blush that was back on Eddie’s cheeks; he looped his arm through Eddie’s, and went back to the debate with Beverly between which show was better between _Misfits _and _End of the Fucking World. _

Eddie tried to regulate his racing heart and all the while he was trying to do that, he couldn’t help but notice that Richie hadn’t touched a single thing on his tray, while the rest of their friends, including himself, had completely finished their food.

He wondered what that was about.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then I said: "I'll update on Friday," you know...like a liar.
> 
> Happy Sunday lmao, enjoy 9k words!
> 
> I had so much fun writing the "first date" of Reddie! c: We're getting Brokeback Mountain in this bitch, minus the horrible shit that went down and the cheating and rejection of sexualities (okay, so not like BBM)...just two dudes feeding horses together, alone, on a shit ton of property.

It had almost been a month since Richie joined the Losers and Eddie realized with dawning dread that his feelings for Richie went far more than platonically than he originally thought.

He was afraid of getting early heart failure at his young age, because of how unsteady his pulse became when Richie gave him attention, or god-forbid, when he _smiled_ at Eddie, even if it was the teeniest one.

His hands got clammy, his knees felt like Jell-O when he started to notice how he liked how Richie dressed, even if it was some grungy, punk way; it made him start to yearn for him because Richie dressed like a rebel, and skipped class occasionally and spoke back to other students and teachers, and sometimes smelled vaguely of pot, but Richie really was the sweetest person to Eddie and their friends, and to his little sister, who Eddie had just recently heard of.

Eddie _hated_ feeling this way. Especially with jealousy, which was a very annoying emotion that he felt on the regular when he would watch Richie and Beverly interact, listen to music together, occasionally skip out early on lunch to go outside for a smoke.

It chewed him up and left Eddie feeling miserable, which he felt extra horrible about, because his brain was so addled with mixed feelings that he couldn’t focus on his chemistry test and got a low grade, he didn’t fail, but it was enough to make him feel sad, because he had actually studied pretty hard for this text.

The breaker was seeing Richie already in the cafeteria, sharing an earbud with Beverly, and watched him tote off his plastic wrapped cupcake to her from his untouched tray. Eddie really tried to not let it bother him, but still, a small sniffle escaped him and then he was hurriedly leaving the cafeteria, not noticing how Richie’s head whipped to the side so fast after him that his earbud fell out.

“What’s up, Rich?” Beverly asked, giving half of the cupcake to Ben.

“Uh, be right back,” Richie said and got up, he could feel the others staring after him as he left the cafeteria. He saw Eddie round the corner at the end of the hall, heading towards the back doors, the doors they usually took together when they left school to go hang out at the park until Richie had to go pick up his sister from her music lessons.

The metal doors had just closed when Richie rounded to the other side, he sped up a bit and went outside, the mid-October wind hit him in the face, the sting of the cold that should have been there didn’t exist to him. He went left and stepped around the corner of the brick building of the school and found Eddie where they sometimes stayed before class.

Eddie hadn’t noticed Richie yet as he was still stalking towards the bench under the tree where teachers would sit and watch the students board the afternoon buses. He dropped onto the bench with a sigh and immediately folded his arms on the table and put his head down; it was cold, he left his jacket in his locker, because he hadn’t planned on sulking outside, but the breeze was cutting through his sweater and he shivered angrily.

He almost screamed when a weight dropped over his back and shoulders, he sat up fast, but he recognized the smell of the cologne and vague smell of pot and knew it was Richie’s dark denim jacket. Eddie turned as Richie carefully sat on the bench, straddling it so he was facing Eddie, “What are you doing out here?” he asked, his voice shook.

“I could ask you the same,” Richie shrugged. “Needed to step out for a minute,” he said, but the look Eddie gave him was a disbelieving one. Richie sighed, there was no cloud of breath when he did that; he hoped Eddie didn’t notice. “I saw you leave, you looked upset.”

“I’m not upset,” Eddie immediately shot back before the words had completely left Richie’s mouth. “I needed air too,” he huffed. He saw the pleading look that Richie was giving him and Eddie hastily averted his gaze; he wouldn’t be suckered by the puppy eyes.

“Eddie,” Richie started off, a small whine in his tone, “I don’t hide anything from you, so return the favorite, tightwad!”

“You’re such a dick!” Eddie exclaimed.

“I gave you my jacket,” Richie reminded, gesturing to it. He saw that Eddie was about to fling it off, “Stop being petty, just wear it and tell me what happened!”

“You’re flirting with Beverly!” Eddie shouted that it almost echoed in the ringing silence. He saw the wide-eyed look that Richie was giving him, “So it is true,” he muttered, feeling utterly exhausted from the sadness of realization that just tore through him.

“I’m not flirting with her,” Richie said quietly, he was looking at Eddie much carefully now, slowly scanning his face.

Eddie was getting a little unnerved by that dark stare, “You don’t have to lie to me, Richie,” he sighed, shoulders slumping.

“Even if I was, which I’m not, why would you care?” Richie asked him warily. He saw Eddie’s cheeks starting to turn red and it wasn’t from the cold, “What is it?”

“I-It’s nothing! I don’t care if you’re flirting with her!” Eddie exclaimed; his heart was pounding again.

Richie frowned at him, “Eds, don’t lie to me, please,” he said quietly, hurt leaked in his tone. “Do…” he trailed off for a moment before continuing to speak, “do you like her like that?”

“_What?!_” Eddie almost screeched; his voice hadn’t been that high since he was 10. “No!” his voice was still high and Eddie gulped in cold, fall air and his lungs practically stung from how freezing it was. “N-no, I don’t like her like that at all! She’s…she’s like an older sister to me, she’s always had my back in grade school when the bullies from high school would come and harass us.”

“Then why’d you get so upset?” Richie asked, cocking his head curiously.

“B-because,” Eddie stammered, wracking his brain for something, because he was going to end up saying something honest if Richie kept giving him that imploring stare. “Uhh, Bill and Ben! T-they like her and it would really fucking suck if they suddenly started to hate you because you dated her! I mean, no offense to them, but Beverly would probably date you over either of them.”

Richie hummed thoughtfully, “M’suppose so…” he drawled, “but Beverly is already dating Ben. They’ve just been keeping it on the downlow, Eds. You really didn’t notice?”

“Are you serious?!” Eddie gawked and almost floundered off the bench when Richie nodded at him. “Fuck…well…I guess someone has to break the news to Bill, and I’m not going to do it.”

“I think he knows and I think Stan knows too,” Richie answered, smiling a little at Eddie’s annoyed whine. “Observation isn’t your forte, but that’s okay,” he teased.

_Unless it’s you_. Eddie’s traitorous brain argued and Eddie beat that thought back with a stick. 

“But you’re a good friend to get so worried like that,” Richie said genuinely. He turned on the bench and shuffled closer so he and Eddie were shoulder-to-shoulder at that point, “I’m sorry though, I really didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t upset me,” Eddie protested and heard the disbelieving scoff and Eddie ducked his head. “Okay, shut up, maybe I was a little upset, but not for the reasons that you think; I’m just being dumb.”

“You’re not dumb,” Richie heatedly snapped, bristling like he was a pissed off cat.

Eddie nearly cowered at the intensity of Richie’s eyes; he could practically see his reflection in them. “O-okay, I’m not dumb,” he hastily corrected and watched Richie relax somewhat.

“C’mon,” Richie finally said after a few minutes of silence. “You’re going to catch your death out here, there’s still time for you to eat something, let’s go,” he urged, rising up and offered a hand to help haul Eddie up. 

Eddie took his hand, there wasn’t much a contrast in temperature, since his own hand felt like ice, “Yea, says you, you’re only wearing a T-Shirt. Also, you should really should invest in gloves,” Eddie said as he about to slide off Richie’s jacket and give it back to him.

“Perhaps I will, but you should keep the jacket on, you can give it back to me later,” Richie said as he kept his hands on Eddie’s shoulders to keep the jacket on him and practically frog-marched him back inside.

Eddie, admittedly, felt embarrassed after this whole ordeal; he knew that Richie wouldn’t bring it up, because Richie really considered everyone’s feelings, even if there had just been a minor misunderstanding. Undoubtfully, Richie seemed to understand Eddie’s sudden self-shame from the lack of control of his emotions, because when they sat down back at the lunch table, Richie’s hand had lightly nudged at Eddie’s knee, which he looked down and felt warmth trickle through him when Richie offered his hand for Eddie to hold that he then took in his own and lightly squeezed Eddie’s hand before taking it and resting both of their hands onto Richie’s knee.

Stan slid over a small basket of fries and two small dipping cups of ketchup and Bill gave Eddie a canned Sprite, neither of them questioned Eddie, because it seemed the answer lied within the famous Richie Tozier jacket that rested over Eddie’s shoulders, and that reassured them both enough to table it until when they could get Eddie alone.

~~~

“It’s nothing,” Eddie said before Stan could open his mouth. He slammed his locker door shut; it was the end of the day and he was just tired and wanted to go home, he didn’t want to answer any prying questions.

The main one being why he was still wearing Richie’s jacket and Eddie wasn’t ready to answer that just yet.

Stan silently walked next to Eddie, holding the straps of his backpack, “I’m not one to judge, Eddie, especially you.”

“You judge people all the time, Stan. You may not say it directly, but your face speaks clearly what you’re thinking,” Eddie corrected him and heard Stan grumble at him for that remark.

“Maybe so, but I’d never judge you _or_ Richie,” Stan reminded him.

“We’re not dating, if that’s what you’re implying,” Eddie blurted, refusing to look at his friend. He felt clammy all over, suddenly, he wanted to take Richie’s jacket off because he felt trapped in it, “He just wanted to make sure I didn’t freeze to death.”

“But you didn’t see his face when he practically fled from us during lunch though,” Stan informed him. He rubbed at his nose, “But I suppose that’s none of my business.”

“Just…please don’t say anything to him, I’ll text you about it,” Eddie pleaded quietly. They were outside now, the last of the group to trickle out of the school; he was going to walk home, but Stan was going to his aunt’s house for the weekend, so he had to take the bus.

Stan gave him a sympathetic look, “Only if you feel okay with it, I’ll catch you later, Eddie. Have a good weekend,” he said and then hurried to his bus when each of the buses started to roar to life.

Eddie watched Stan get onto the bus and stood by the school stairs until all the buses had left before he started walking slowly back home; his hands were stuffed into the pockets and he wasn’t surprised to feel what felt like a pack of cigarettes and a small lighter. He thumbed the box all the way home, he bypassed his mother once he greeted her and mumbled that he was going to start on some weekend homework before trudging up the stairs; he was grateful that she hadn’t asked whose jacket that was. 

He slid it off once he closed his bedroom door and carefully put it on the back of his desk chair, where he dropped his bookbag on the ground by his chair. Eddie yawned and rubbed at his eyes; he _really_ was tired after the emotional onslaught of shit he went through, so it was easy to decide that he was going to change into his comfy pajamas.

Eddie had just tugged his sleep shirt down and almost fell back in shock when a ghostly face was in his bedroom window. He glowered when he saw that it was Richie, “What the fuck?” he whispered and stumbled over to where Richie was crouched on the lip of his roof, grinning cheekily.

“Nice shorts,” Richie commented as soon as the window was open and he slid inside into Eddie’s bedroom. He looked around, surveying the area which was just a painted a simple eggshell blue with a white accented trim, a twin-sized bed shoved in against a wall across from the door, a desk, a dresser was next to the door, zero clutter on top of it, other than a small lamp and a fanny-pack, there was a rounded rug on the ground, which looked like a faded blueish color, other than that, the room was pretty plain. 

He whistled lowly and looked over at Eddie, “Damn, you live like this?”

“Like what?” Eddie demanded as he was looking for sweatpants to pull over his short red running shorts. He looked back at Richie, who was shamelessly watching him, and Eddie squeaked and stood back up, “You’re a pervert!” he hissed. “How did you even know where I lived?”

“Because I’m a pervert,” Richie sarcastically said, but it wasn’t so untrue; Eddie didn’t need to know that though. He dropped into the desk chair, “So,” Richie started awkwardly, tapping his fingers lightly against the desk, “you want to tell me what today was about?”

“It was about nothing, Richie,” Eddie answered snippily, crossing his arms; his goal to find sweatpants was forgotten.

Richie shrugged at him, “Fair enough,” he replied and dug into his jeans pocket and leaned to dig through his jacket pocket that was hung over the desk chair and dug out his lighter and then pulled out a small baggy and paper from his jeans pocket.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Eddie almost shouted. He somewhat stalked over to the bedroom window and opened it further, “Smoke by the window at least,” he sighed angrily.

Richie promised he would and started to roll his joint, “Any weekend plans, Eds?”

“No,” Eddie sighed, “Stan’s going to his aunt’s house, Bill is helping his little brother this weekend for a school play, Beverly is helping Bill, Ben is going on some mini trip with his parents, and Mike text us all earlier, if you’d check the damn group chat, that he was going to be learning how to make bales of hay, since the town’s park is putting together a miniature hayride for Halloween.”

“Sounds like lovely plans for all of them,” Richie sarcastically answered. He then hummed sympathetically, “Guess you’re stuck with me,” his smile was wolfish as he lit up his joint, he lifted the desk chair he was sitting on and carefully placed in the ground by the open window. He took in a deep puff and slowly exhaled outside, he offered it to Eddie, who looked hesitant, “Never smoked before?”

“What the fuck do you think?” Eddie asked him with a roll of his eyes.

“Wanna try it?” Richie asked him and saw Eddie wrinkle his nose at him. “Fine, more for me,” he took his second hit. He kicked his feet up onto the windowsill and leaned the chair on its back legs, “You could come hang at my place tomorrow, if you wanted.”

“My mom would have a fit,” Eddie told him, he sat in the middle of his bed, legs crisscrossed. He sighed heavily, “My mom doesn’t like it when I go out on the weekends.”

“How the fuck do you go out and do things then?” Richie asked him, arching a dark eyebrow at him.

“I usually sneak out,” Eddie confessed and told Richie to hush when the taller boy let out a loud cackle. He watched Richie take another drag and Eddie swallowed a little heavily, watching those plush, pink lip pucker a bit before parting and exhaling out the window again, but Eddie could still smell it wafting in his room.

“Rebel,” Richie teased. He stubbed out his joint and left it on the windowsill, rising to only flop onto Eddie’s bed, he stared up at the bland ceiling, “You should get glow in the dark stickers, put some fuckin’ stars up there, man. It’d really make the place dope.”

“Jesus, you’re stoned already?” Eddie asked, laughter in his voice, even though he felt like his throat had dried up when he watched Richie sprawl across his bed, long legs spilling over the side, and the heels of those ratty, red checkered Vans dug into his old rug.

“Nah, just a small buzz,” Richie reassured him. “I got to go pick up Kimmy in 30-ish minutes, so I’m gonna mooch you of your time until then,” he wasn’t apologetic about it.

Eddie didn’t mind to say the very least; he could just somewhat watch Richie in the corner of his eye. “I know you literally just asked me to hang out tomorrow and I said that I’m usually not allowed, but we could go see Mike before he starts working on the hay thing. We all haven’t been able to hang out with, except for like Monday of last week, because he was doing an errand in town.”

“Sure, but I may have to pass,” Richie mumbled, looking a bit uncomfortable.

“Why?” Eddie asked him. He sort of noticed a tension between Richie and Mike and it really confused him, Richie would put on this extra façade in front of Mike and Mike usually acted…cagey around Richie. 

Not to mention that anytime Richie hung out with them, Mike would keep them all in town in a public area and make what sounded like excuses about why they couldn’t go to the loft.

Richie shrugged, “Not really fond of farms.”

“Are you a vegetarian or a vegan?” Eddie blinked. He had to lurch over and smother the laugh that erupted out of Richie, hissing at him to be quiet because his mother was just downstairs.

After Richie managed to wriggle away, he was still giving Eddie an amused look, “No, I’m not either of those. I just caught a bit of a vibe that Mr. Farm Boy isn’t overly fond of me, so I just prefer not to start any conflict.”

“Did you know Mike before?” Eddie asked him and saw Richie shake his head. “That’s really weird…Mike’s so nice.”

“Yea,” Richie mumbled, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

And they didn’t.

They made small talk about other things, movies and comics, until Richie sat up suddenly, pushing back a few curly locks from his face, “Gotta go,” he said, standing up.

Eddie glanced at his watch; it was 4:30 on the dot. Eddie slowly maneuvered his way off the bed as Richie was grabbing his half-finished doobie from the windowsill and tucked it behind his ear, his thick locks kept it mostly from view.

“Catch you later, Eds,” Richie said as he slid out the window. He paused briefly, turning to look back at Eddie, opening his mouth to say something, but held back from it.

Eddie saw the conflict on Richie’s face and he asked him what the matter was.

“It’s nothing, sorry, didn’t mean to worry you, Short Stack,” Richie teased and chuckled when Eddie told him to fuck off. 

“Just be careful, dude, text me when you get home,” Eddie finally said, he leaned over to shut the window and startled when Richie’s icy hand curled around his wrist easily and he was pulled forward. “What!” he exclaimed and again, Richie had this funny look on his face, but Eddie didn’t miss the way Richie’s dark eyes flickered to his lips a couple times and Eddie felt himself growing warm.

Richie let go, “Sorry, have a good night, Eds, I’ll text you,” he promised and slid off the roof.

Eddie’s eyes widened and he hastily leaned over, but not even a second later, he saw Richie crossing through his front yard to get into his blacked-out dark gray car and Eddie relaxed to see that the taller boy was unharmed and watched him drive off.

He slowly slid the window shut with an annoyed huff; his feelings were confusing, but Richie was far more confusing than the couple layers of shallow fears and concerns that constantly went through Eddie.

Eddie switched off the light and lied down, yes, it wasn’t even five, but he was pretty exhausted and it didn’t take him long to nod off; it really helped that the overcast blotted out the sunlight too.

He didn’t even wake up when his phone lit up about 30 minutes later.

~~~

Eddie had slept through dinner and throughout the whole night, so he did wake up to quite a few texts, mostly from the group chat and a few from Richie, and Eddie read them all, but didn’t respond.

He did text Mike, he really did want to see his friend; Mike had such a calming aura about him and despite Eddie also hating the dirtiness of farms, he didn’t mind Mike’s farm and feeding the sheep with his friend was fun.

Eddie wasn’t surprised to get a text back so fast; it was only 7 am, but Mike woke up around 5 to get the day started; _farm life_, he had once told his friends like he had been annoyed, but he didn’t mind it.

So, Eddie showered, brushed his teeth, dried his hair, dressed in some warm clothes, a comfy oversized sweater, some slim fit jeans, his rain boots because the farm was usually muddy this time of year, and he grabbed his layered rain coat that was in the same dark blue shade as his rain boots.

He made sure he had his keys and snuck downstairs, his mother’s bedroom door was closed, but he wanted to make sure to be extra quiet. Eddie left her a note, snagged two muffins and a couple bananas for him and Mike and then slipped out the back door.

Eddie unlocked the driver door to the deep red, classic convertible that his father had left to him, as much as his mother was overly paranoid and controlling, she still respected her husband’s wishes after his passing, and it was a gifted to Eddie on his sixteenth birthday and Eddie had quickly gotten his driver’s license after that.

It was in mint condition, Eddie only had the tires rotated and the brakes checked, mainly due to his mother’s fussing; this car had been his dad’s second pride and joy and it Eddie vowed to keep the car in perfect condition, no matter how old he got, or even if he got a new car; it was a collectable and Eddie would cherish it, since this was the only link he had as a reminder of his father.

Though, he didn’t know much about cars, because of his mother’s consistent whining that they were dirty and didn’t let Eddie get into the interest of cars, Eddie picked up a few things from Mike, who fixed those giant tractors and he pickup trucks on his farm.

So, he at least learned how to change a flat tire, how to change his oil, and how to jumpstart his car if anything were to ever happen to it, which Eddie prayed that he’d never get a flat or have his car stall.

Eddie drove down the street, it was a bit eerie out; foggy, cold, and a little dark, but he knew it would clear up a bit when he got closer to Mike’s place. He didn’t play any music from the adaptor he could connect his phone to, he was content to just listen to the gentle rumble of his car.

As Eddie turned to head out of the town’s bounds, he couldn’t help but slow to a stop, about 50 feet from the stoplight, and glance to his right, leaning over a little into the passenger seat to look at the winding road that ended half way up the small hill by a large iron gate, its doors closed, and then the road on the other side winded up further until it dipped over a hill vanishing from sight; it was too foggy to see any chimney smoke that he sometimes saw with his friends when they would be heading over to Mike’s in the past.

Even if Eddie had never seen the mansion in person, he knew that’s where Richie lived, because for a while, when he had been younger and Google Maps was still becoming a thing, a group of his geography classmates back in the day, were looking up all territories of Derry and Eddie still remembered seeing the grainy image shot of the mansion from a satellite, it had a dark roof and Richie had a lot of land in front and in the back of his house that blended in with some woodsy terrain.

A spike of excitement overcame him at the idea of finally being able to see the house in person, because he doubted that anyone had ever got to catch a glimpse of the mansion, they only got to see the two kids from it, so it was sort of surreal that Eddie was going to possibly be the first of his generation to see that mystery mansion.

Eddie eased off the brake and let his car slowly coast to the light that blinking yellow, he turned left at the light and pressed on the gas; it was about a fifteen-minute drive to Mike’s farm, and this time, he just flicked on the radio to kill out the silence.

~~~

“Morning, Eddie,” was the first thing Mike said when Eddie had gotten out of his car after he pulled up and parked by the barn. He was wearing a thick, dark green sweater that he had tucked in his jeans, and he also wore rain boots that were much more worn down and dirtier than Eddie’s.

Eddie would never get over the fact how nice his friends were aging, Mike still looked like himself with his boyish features, but they were maturing out, his hair was a bit shorter, the small black curls tight and closer to his head, versus the fluffier hair style he had a couple years ago, his rich skin was still ever clear, all of them envied that Mike never seemed to break out once, despite sweating on a farm most his days, and now Mike had a stronger jawline now, better than Bill’s or Stan’s at this point.

“Morning, Mike!” Eddie chirped, he offered a muffin and banana to Mike, who thanked him. He followed after his taller friend, which Eddie was coming to realize that he was probably second shortest in his group of friends, but Beverly wasn’t that much shorter than Eddie to begin with, he had at least been happy that he wasn’t shorter than her anymore when they had been younger.

Mike led the way into the barn and onto the upper floor that he had constructed with the help of Ben, who made the blueprints, and the two of them had spent most of last summer making a loft area for them all to hang out at, since the majority of them had outgrown the underground clubhouse Ben had made.

Eddie took a seat on of the four crafted chairs that Stan had built all by himself, the small square table had been made by him too, Beverly brought bean bag chairs and put them by the coffee table that Bill brought, and had Mike help him haul up a loveseat, Eddie brought an old TV he had found in his garage that still worked somehow and a DVD player, and Mike supplied the microwave and minifridge.

Eddie still liked to look at the décor, Ben and Beverly spruced up the place with hanging plants, some colorful rugs, nook shelves that held books of history and Stan’s small donated collection of bird watching books, Eddie like the creamy toffee colored curtains; the loft was cozy and fit all of them, he was excited to bring Richie here to hang out with the rest of them.

_Oh. Right, the small feud._

“You look troubled now,” Mike said when he came back from microwaving their muffins and he had brought juice boxes and sat them down on the table. He popped the top with his straw and brought the muffin and banana close to him, “What’s the matter?”

“Oh, umm,” Eddie fumbled for his words, “it’s nothing major, I just, uh, I spoke with Richie last night and I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he paused when he saw Mike’s eyebrows furrow briefly before he put a neutral expression back on. 

So, it turns out that neither he nor Richie were paranoid.

“I’m fine. So, what’s wrong with him?” Mike asked, he was leaning back in his chair now, arms crossed, giving Eddie his undivided attention now.

Eddie frowned, “Do you hate Richie?” he asked suddenly. He was relieved that Mike looked surprised and a little confused, “So, you don’t hate him?”

“I don’t hate him,” Mike confirmed. He looked uncomfortable and sighed softly shaking his head slowly before looking back at Eddie, “I just don’t trust him,” he confessed awkwardly.

“You don’t trust him?” Eddie echoed back slowly. “Has he done something to make you distrust him?”

“Listen, Eddie, you know my uncle is odd and really into old family history and all that weird hoodoo junk, but…my uncle has always had a chip on his shoulder towards the Toziers,” Mike explained. “He’s a stern man set in his roots, but I trust him and I love him, so I listen to him. When he caught wind that I was hanging out with Richie Tozier, he damn near boxed my ears.”

Eddie was shaking his head in confusion, “What does he have against Richie?” he inquired. He had only seen Mike’s uncle a few times, the older man preferred to do gardening now, since Mike can handle the farm with his cousins now, but not once did that man seem like an oddball.

“It’s not Richie in particular,” Mike reassured him, “it’s just his lineage.”

Eddie felt a low dread in his gut, “Were his family…” he trailed awkwardly, “s-slavers?”

“Of some sort,” Mike answered vaguely and he saw that Eddie was giving him a puzzled look. “My uncle wouldn’t tell me the whole story, because I don’t know if he’s skeptical about the whole thing he was told when he was a boy, or if he just really doesn’t want me to know, but he told me to just watch Richie from afar and asked that I warn you all too, which wasn’t really fair in my opinion.”

“Well, I am going to his house later today,” Eddie informed him. “I can tell your uncle himself if Richie has people kept in his basement or whatever, but I highly doubt that. Richie is a really kind person, Mike.”

“Again, it’s not him personally, just his family,” Mike reminded him gently.

“I’m not going to get into the theatrics of it all, because neither of us know Richie’s family or his family past,” Eddie stated, “but I highly doubt his mother and father are monsters, or else I think Richie would be a bit more fucked up in the head, especially if he and his sister had been homeschooled for the most of their lives.”

“That’s true, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to assume anything of Richie, he’s always been kind to me,” Mike meekly replied, but Eddie was just smiling at him.

“No, I get it, I mean, my dad was Italian, Italians have done some real fucked up shit, but my dad was good and my mom is white as fucking sour cream, she’s just a gossip homophobe, but some of the older gen act like I’m do shifty things on the downlow,” Eddie mused and saw Mike smile at him.

Mike chuckled, “I suppose, since you didn’t turn out as a drug cartel, mafia raging racist, did you?”

“Nope, just gay, so I’ve got one thing to hide from my mother,” Eddie grinned and heard Mike let out a loud laugh. “I am sorry though,” he said sincerely, “you can tell me if Richie does say or does anything to provoke you and I’ll gladly kick his ass; he’s just legs, one kick behind the knee and he’ll fall like a house of cards.”

Mike chuckled again, albeit weakly this time, but Eddie was too engrossed with his muffin to see the tiny guilty expression on Mike’s face, because how could he tell Eddie what his uncle told him? Especially without his friend telling him that his uncle was crazy and call him crazy too for even hinting at the idea of believing what his uncle had said.

Eddie was quickly munching his breakfast and he chased it down with a big gulp of juice, “C’mon, take me to Abigale! I have one happy mama to feed and two of her baby lambs!”

Mike’s smile wasn’t forced this time, he wolfed up his food too and happily led Eddie back downstairs to get feed from the back.

~~~

With one last farewell, Eddie climbed into his car, it was almost noon, the sky had cleared up, but it was still nippy out. He waved at Mike and backed up before driving down the dirt and gravel path carefully to the main road before going back to a normal speed.

He knows his mother would be throwing a fit and Eddie even felt somewhat nervous, but he texted Richie, asking him if here home and to call him, before trapping his phone between his thighs and drove along the straight road after dealing with some winding turns.

Soon enough, Eddie felt his phone vibrating and he quickly answered it, “Hello?” he asked.

“Hey, never thought you to be a rulebreaker, especially with those don’t text and drive posters all throughout school,” came Richie’s amused tone from the other end of the phone.

“Oh, shut it,” Eddie rolled his eyes. “I’m leaving Mike’s and I’m about five minutes from town.”

“Need directions to my place?” came the sarcastic question.

“Maybe,” Eddie drawled joyously before laughing when Richie started to mimic him. “No, but I may need you to open that impending gate when I get there thought.”

“Speak those magic words and you may enter.”

Eddie could almost see Richie wiggling his eyebrows, “Now, doofus.”

“Who even says _doofus_ anymore? Doofus,” Richie snickered.

“You do, apparently,” Eddie said and honked his horn. He heard Richie grumbling at him and hung up, but soon enough, the gates slowly parted and Eddie drove through on the paved road and to say the very least, he was mystified by the beautiful home that was indeed a whole fucking mansion perfectly hidden from sight.

Dark grey cobblestone brick made up the house, the windows on the ground floor were large and arched that reached what could have been the second floor with thick black wiring in the glass crisscrossing between to hold each section of glass in, but he was unable to see inside. The roof was just a shade lighter than the brick of the mansion and it had accented parts, where there two higher points that allowed a window, the roof was pointed there, the whole place sort gave a vibe of a haunted mansion, but Eddie’s favorite part was the circular stained glass window that was above the front double-door that was just as intimidating as the rest of the place, it was an arched door and a deep brown to the point Eddie thought it was black.

He was almost too afraid to park his car, but then the front door open and out slipped Richie, dawned in a navy blue sweater, ripped black skinny jeans, and the only thing new on him was that Richie wore those stupid square hipster glasses, and it pissed Eddie off because Richie looked stupidly attractive.

Especially stupid when Eddie finally came over to him, he saw that Richie was wearing black socks and Gucci slides, “God you suck,” Eddie immediately said, as he was infuriated with himself with his dumb taste in men.

“What?” Richie blinked. He didn’t get a clear answer from Eddie, so him merely shrugged his thin shoulders, and beckoned Eddie to follow him inside, “Sorry, Alfred isn’t here to park your car for you, so you have to be a peasant.”

“You’re fucking with me,” Eddie deadpanned when they walked inside.

Richie closed the door he had opened to go outside and leaned against them, a cheeky grin on his face, “Just fucking with you, dude. My mom would never allow us to have butlers and maids 24/7, but we do have a trusted family crew to stop by every couple of weeks to clean.”

Eddie could tell he was sheepish about it, so the fondness he originally felt had doubled, “What? Can’t clean every little crevice in this place?” he asked as he toed off his boots and put them neatly by the front door.

“Like _you_ could?” Richie asked him doubtfully.

“I bet I could,” Eddie puffed up and immediately hated the wolfish grin that slid onto Richie’s face.

“You’d look good in a maid’s uniform,” Richie teased and cackled when Eddie slapped him on the arm. “C’mon, do you want anything to drink? Just went shoppin’!” he crowed, excitedly dragging Eddie to the kitchen.

Everything about this place had a Victorian feel about it, the grand wooden staircase, the ground level had polished, wooden floors, rich cream-colored walls, with dark wooden accents near the ceiling and the crossing beams that matched the wooden floor, the colors weren’t bright and slightly muted, yet Eddie didn’t feel repressed, it had a very cozy feel to the place.

Eddie really liked the kitchen, it was very spacious with tons of storage, the center pieces was an island table that had a pretty chandelier above it, there were corner lights mounted on the walls that had the kitchen glowing. He admired the white marble table counters, the polished fridge with matching oven; it was a very pretty home and organized.

He silently watched Richie grab them both a soda from the fridge when he saw Richie’s shoulders get stiff and the taller boy quickly turned around, Eddie thought Richie was looking at him, but soon realized that he was looking _behind_ him and that had terror immediately start to brew in his gut.

“Mom,” Richie said, relaxing and sat the unopened cans on the island table. He gracefully came back over to where Eddie was and gently turned him around, “Mom,” he repeated, “this is Eddie. Eddie, this is my mega-amazing mom, Maggie.”

Eddie swallowed nervously, but greeted her kindly. Maggie was thin and tall; it was obvious to Eddie where Richie got the majority of his looks and tall genes from. He took in her dark black hair that was somewhat wavy, it rested a little past her shoulders, slim dark eyebrows, her eyes were dark brown, but nowhere near the depth of Richie’s, thick eyelashes that Richie also seemed to inherited, soft cheeks that were a little rosy, and pale pink full lips; she was very beautiful, despite looking a bit sickly.

“Richie,” her voice was soft and her eyes turned to look over at her son, lifting a thin hand that was much smaller than Richie’s as his gently enclosed around hers. She had to angle her head up to look at her son, “This is the sweet Eddie you spoke so much of?” she inquired.

“Mom,” Richie bemoaned, but oddly looked pleased, “don’t tease me in front of him, please.”

Maggie’s lips quirked into a small smile, but it was obvious she wasn’t all there. She looked down suddenly, “I can’t find Kimmy, I searched the whole house.”

“Kimmy’s with Ashlyn and her mom, remember? She had a sleep over.” Richie reminded her gently, the proud look on his face was fading.

“Oh,” came Maggie’s meek response. “I must have forgotten.”

Eddie felt suddenly so sad for Richie; it was clear his mother was ill.

“C’mon, mom, you should probably get some more rest,” Richie cajoled and his mother sighed, but did not argue. He looked back at Eddie apologetically, “I’ll be right back, dude. Grab a drink and a chair, I’ll be back,” he said and then his attention was back to his mother, carefully guiding her back out of the kitchen.

Eddie watched them vanish down the hall and around the corner where the stairs were, where he assumed Richie was taking her back upstairs. He did what he was told and fiddled absentmindedly with his unopened drink and he aimlessly traced the small gray, sparkly flecks that were in the table top with his eyes until he was pulled out of his spaced out-ness by a hand landing on his shoulder.

“Hey,” Richie called worriedly, “are you okay?”

“Yea!” Eddie promised. “I’m sorry, I just…didn’t realize that you were going through something. I feel bad for coming over now, if you have to take care of your mom.”

“No, I invited you, it’s totally okay,” Richie reassured him. He grabbed his drink and turned away from the table, “It’s pretty lonely here without my sister. She’s made tons of new friends at her school, she’s only 10 and little miss popular at her elementary school,” he grinned. 

Eddie followed Richie back down the hall and then up the expansive stairs, his suspicions were confirmed when Richie had gone over to a door that lead into a large bedroom and softly shut the door. He then rounded the banister with Richie and they were walking towards another bedroom that had its door left wide open and judging by all the punk-pop album art posters and baseball banners tacked to the blueish-gray walls, this was Richie’s room.

Richie left the door open ajar before dropping into his gamer chair and slowly spun in a circle as Eddie moved to sit on the edge of Richie’s made bed, which surprised him and Richie rolled his eyes, “Spaghetti, I’m not a complete slob.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Eddie replied innocently, even batting his eyelashes at the taller, who snickered at him.

“You didn’t have to say it, your face did,” Richie teased.

“Oh, fuck you,” Eddie huffed.

“With pleasure,” Richie winked and watched Eddie’s cheeks turn pink. “So, how was Ol’farmer Mike and his place?” he asked, popping the top off his drink and took a drink before setting the can on his desk.

“He’s good, we mostly just fed his sheep and chickens,” Eddie shrugged. He eyed Richie critically, “Just so you know, if I find out that you’re racist, I’ll run you over with my car.”

“It’s a pretty sick car, I may just have to fake it,” Richie replied.

“Thanks, it was an inheritance from my dad,” Eddie informed him and saw the sympathetic look Richie gave him. “It’s okay, my dad passed away seven years ago.”

“Mine passed this spring,” Richie muttered, rubbing anxiously at the back of his head. He nodded at his bedroom door, “S’why my mom…is behaving the way she is. She’s been grieving to the point that it’s fucked with her head.”

“Jesus, Richie, I’m so sorry,” Eddie gasped. He saw Richie shrug at him, “No, don’t shrug at me, you lost your dad and now you’re caring for your mom! That’s a big deal!”

“It’s not really,” Richie murmured, avoiding Eddie’s disbelieving stare. “My dad and I had very different views when I started to comprehend what he wanted me to do for the company, which I don’t mind taking over, but…some stuff he wanted me to do for it wasn’t something I felt like I could do. Because of that, it drove us apart, but I do miss him. He made my mother so happy and he was so protective and caring for Kimmy.”

Eddie was astonished to learn so much about him, “I had no idea…” he said softly.

“Which is why it’s weird for me to talk about,” Richie sighed. “Don’t kid glove me, Eddie, I’ll never forgive you.”

“I won’t,” Eddie promised. 

Richie gave him a relieved smile.

~~~

“Okay, you’re a fucking cheater and I’m never going to be nice to you again!” Eddie shrilled when he was red-shelled for the fourth time and had to listen to Peach’s _‘Whoohoo!’_ for the 80th time during the balloon battle they were having while playing Mario Kart.

Eddie was a sore lose and didn’t feel bad when he kicked Richie in the knee, who barely budged. It was comical, because there was a delayed reaction, Richie had merely continued to his play game before dramatically whining and holding his knee. Eddie was giggling, “Did you forget that you have pain receptors?”

“Maybe, or the fact that I was too busy handing your ass to you to realize it,” Richie taunted and shrieked when Eddie launched himself at Richie. Richie had moved to the bed earlier, but now he was rolling off it with Eddie attached to him, who was attempting to tickle him.

Eddie ended up losing that battle too, because Richie barely reacted, but _he_, himself, was reacting when he saw that they were on the ground, he was straddling Richie’s chest and Richie’s glasses were knocked askew that he hastily fixed before snatching his hand back like he had been burned; it really didn’t help that Richie had his hands resting on Eddie’s hips.

His throat bobbed; he felt so fucking _small_.

“You good?” Richie asked, tilting his head curiously.

Eddie pushed himself off Richie, mumbling incoherently; he hated that he missed the intimacy already. His face was hot and his body was practically vibrating; he wanted to get out.

Whatever Richie saw on his face, the taller boy was quick to get up, “Hey,” he soothed, “wanna go outside and feed the horses?”

It was low hanging fruit, but Eddie was already heading to the stairs, almost slipping down them from how quickly he was walking, only to feel Richie’s hand snatch around his elbow to stop him from falling down the stairs.

“Eddie,” Richie said somewhat icily, “you need to calm down.”

Eddie shakily nodded, “Sorry, I don’t even know what triggered this,” he apologized; he was a fucking liar, but like hell he was going to tell Richie that he nearly popped one.

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” Richie said, still gripping Eddie by the arm, but it wasn’t as restricting. He only let go when Eddie was on the main floor. He looked at him, “I’m going to cut up some carrots and apples and we can feed the horses,” he said, walking towards the kitchen.

Eddie dumbly followed after him, almost in a daze. He sat at the island table and watched Richie grab a bag of apples and carrots, putting the bags on the table before going to the knife holder and grabbed a paring knife. Eddie offered his assistance and Richie politely declined, “Dude, I can cut a damn carrot!”

“Better to be safe than sorry,” Richie teased. “The last thing I need is to save you from lockdown because of your mother never letting you out of your room again because you nicked your finger.”

He was surprised and genuinely touched that Richie remembered him talking about his mother, which, the conversation had been with Stan at lunch; it meant that Richie had been paying attention to him, even if he had been reading with Ben and his poetry book.

Eddie still sulked though, watching Richie cut the apples and carrots into fourths and drop them into a large plastic bowl. Eddie huffed and puffed, being annoying by drumming his fingers on the countertop and saw that Richie was fighting back a smile, “Can’t I do _anything_?” he whined.

“Just sit there and look pretty,” Richie winked, but quickly hurried up. He cut one last apple up before taking the knife to the sink and rinsed it off before telling Eddie to go put his boots on. Richie followed after him, opening the closet door, he handed the bowl to Eddie when the other boy had pulled on his rain boots and Richie pulled on his jockey boots and then led Eddie outside after taking the bowl back.

“Aren’t you cold?” Eddie frowned when a gust of wind swept past them. He zipped his raincoat and pulled on his gloves and he looked over at Richie, who wasn’t even phased by the weather. 

Richie shook his head, “My sweater is pretty thick, I’m good,” he replied.

“You must have been from Alaska, dude, I’m getting frost bite,” Eddie complained, but he was excited to see the horses. He was being led to a large garage, “Do you keep your horses here?”

Richie shook his head, amused, “Too cute, Eds,” he laughed. He guided Eddie inside, he didn’t bat an eye at the giant SUV, Jeep, and his Jaguar that were parked there, but Eddie sure was gawking at them.

“Holy shit,” Eddie stared bug-eyed at the vehicles, “Are all of these yours?”

“No, the SUV is my mom’s, I got the jeep for the winter, the Jaguar for the normal-ish seasons,” Richie informed him. He walked over to the golf cart that was covered by the tarp and pulled it off, “Hop on,” Richie slid into the driver’s side of the golf cart, he hit the garage opener.

Eddie slid into the seat next to Richie and held onto the side bar as Richie pulled out of the garage, “Please don’t drive like a psychopath,” he begged.

“Ask and you shall receive my, Spagheds,” Richie easily relented and drove slowly, but to be fair, it was a little hard to drive carefully on the lawn, and it was funny watching Eddie bounce all over the place and occasionally into him.

Eddie thought he was going to bash his head on the roof of the cart before he felt Richie’s arm sling around his waist, pulling him close, keeping him from sliding all over the bench and Eddie held the bowl of cut up apples and carrots.

Richie eased the cart by the fence line and let go of Eddie, but dragged Eddie out on his side. He took Eddie to the fence line, Richie tilted his head back and let out shrill whistle that echoed and Richie leaned forward, resting his arms over the top horizontal post, “You can stand on the bottom one,” Richie gestured to the fence.

Eddie flipped him off and glared at the bottom fence post but stepped on it and he was glad he did because he could see over the fence now, and in the distance he could see two horses coming over to them and he was a bit scared that they were going to hurtle the fence or take them out.

He listened to Richie _‘Woah, woah’_ them and saw that the horses actually slowed to a trot when they got closer, Eddie saw that one was pure black, it was larger than the other horse that was all white, except for the pink nose, it was also smaller, perhaps still a young foal.

Richie clicked his tongue and the two horses came over, the black one snorting in Richie’s face, who laughed, and easily stroked down the length of the horse’s face, murmuring soft to the massive creature. He looked around the horse’s muzzle to smile at Eddie, “C’mere, meet Milo, he’s mine, the white one is Freya, my sister’s,” he said.

Eddie shyly shuffled closer and froze up when Richie slid behind him, he shakily let Richie take the lead. Eddie desperately tried to fight back the tremors that ran through his body as Richie was murmuring in his ear, but it was the least sexy things being said (the pleasant chills running up and down Eddie’s spine still said otherwise), it was mostly just him warning Eddie to keep his palm flat open and not to move when either of the horses ate from his hand.

“When it’s warm again, I’ll take you riding,” Richie said randomly when they stood together in silence, Eddie was lightly leaning against Richie, the two were watching the horses gallop around.

Eddie held the empty bowl in his arms as he tilted his head back to look up at him, “I dunno, sounds dangerous,” he commented skeptically. Eddie felt the rumble of laughter from Richie and he leaned further back, to which, Richie didn’t mind the slightest.

“I’d keep you safe, you’d ride with me,” Richie winked. He nodded back over to the golf cart, “C’mon, let’s get you inside and warmed up before you turn into an Eddie-cicle.”

Eddie lightly shoved at Richie, which had him pushing the bowl into the taller boy’s arms and hustled back towards the golf car and took the driver’s seat, “I’m driving because you suck at it.”

“Show me how it’s done then,” Richie complied and slid into the passenger seat.

Eddie realized as he was driving back to the garage that this was probably the most fun he had in a long time and when he glanced over at Richie, who was clinging to the roof top of the golf cart with one hand and onto the edge of the seat with the other, and his head was tossed back as he laughed loudly, Eddie could agree he could get used to this kind of happiness.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning!!
> 
> Soo....I'm still kinda in shock, my best friend and I met James Ransone at a con on Saturday....it honestly was so surreal, as this had been my very first time meeting an actor! He was very sweet and kind to us! I don't swoon much, but my god, I want to protect this man with every fiber of my entire being.
> 
> I had a very dumb moment before my friend and I met him at his table; I saw him in the hall from the side and I was like "omg, that guy looks like James," to my friend and she was trying to see him, but the 'look-alike' had turned the corner in the hall and soon later, the guy came back and I gave my friend a spook of her life by saying "He's behind you" he passed, he said hi, we said hi, he walked by and I looked back at my friend and was like, "I'm a fucking idiot! That WAS him earlier in the hall aldkfjaldj" and then we met him at his table and *heart trembling noises* yea...
> 
> Anyway, I'm sorry for the short chappie, but be prepared for a lil drama that I will quickly resolve bc I'm weak at heart and hate any conflict lmao Lemme know what ya'll think!!!

The weekend had come and went, Eddie spent it all with Richie, and Eddie only felt slightly bad neglecting his friend’s texts, because Stan certainly gave him the coldshoulder on Monday during all of English.

When Eddie had explained to Stan after class what he had done over the weekend with Richie, Stan was much more relaxed, even extra cheerful than usual and Eddie supposed his friend was more of a romantic that he claimed to be.

Whatever, despite the embarrassment of it all, it was nice that his friends were so understanding and supportive and Eddie couldn’t ask for a better friend group, it seemed that Richie could agree, as he was extra invested in conversations during lunch.

It was the end of the day again, and Stan must have said something or text the other Losers about him and Richie, because they were giggly and had already said their goodbyes to them.

Beverly had winked at the both of them as she swung her and Ben’s clasped hands between them, “Bye, lover boys,” she giggled and Ben had been practically toted along, apologizing to them until he was out of the school.

Richie merely fluttered his fingers in a playful goodbye, lingering behind with Eddie, who was still fussing with his locker that was jammed. He peered over his shoulder before turning around to see that Eddie was getting frustrated; Richie knocked his fist sharply against the metal, it sort of dented the top of the locker; he winced at that.

“Geez, how many cheesy, cliché movies did you watch where they pulled that move?” Eddie sneered, but hated that it actually worked and he was able to get his backpack and coat.

“Enough of them,” Richie truthfully stated and strolled slowly after Eddie; he had been in a funny mood all day.

“C’mon, Rich,” Eddie tugged playfully on Richie’s sleeve. “You owe me a dinner, since I finally beat you at balloon battles!”

Richie easily relented, all soft smiles, his eyes weren’t so cold and vacant now when he hung out with Eddie; it was as if he was experiencing joy for the first time when they were together. He jumped down the stairs and paused at the bottom, “I have to be back here around 4:30 to pick up Kimmy from her music lessons.”

Eddie nodded, “I promise we won’t be a minute late,” he responded and felt warmth flutter in his stomach as Richie gave him another gentle smile. His stomach had yet to stop doing that around Richie; his belly was constantly doing swoops when Richie was near.

“Hey, Girly Boy.”

That familiar sneer had those joyous flips stop cold and Eddie felt his stomach drop it almost pure terror. He whipped around to see Henry fucking Bowers standing near the school sign, still with his stupid mullet (c’mon, it was 2019), raggedy jeans and dirty flannel shirt, his boots were muddy and gross; Eddie’s skin crawled.

Richie frowned and tilted his head curiously at Henry before looking down at Eddie, “Do you know him?” he asked his friend.

“No,” Eddie replied, grabbing onto Richie’s arm and tugged him insistently, “we should go,” he murmured hurriedly. He saw that Richie still looked confused and the frown on his lips remained as Henry stalked up to them and Eddie felt like a little 7th grader all over again. Henry knew how to make people feel small, and Eddie _hated_ that he still feared this stupid bully, even though Eddie was now 17 and his biggest fears should be what college he should be choosing to apply to.

Richie moved to stand between Eddie and this man he seemed to be afraid of and that didn’t sit well. He was just an inch or so taller than this guy, which he was smirking about, because even though his guy had the same amount of build on him as Richie did, he was at least amused that this nostril flaring guy had to look up at him.

“You the new fairy in town?” Henry sneered, he glowered as Richie continued to look amused, “What’s so fucking funny?” he snapped.

Richie shrugged, still giving this guy a full-lipped grin, “Nothing, it’s just that you’re pathetic,” he commented and he heard Eddie’s quiet gasp. “You’re an adult and you stand outside of a school, waiting on kids like some fucking pervert,” he cackled. That smile turned into a vicious one, “Are you a fucking pervert? Do you want to fuck the kids at this school?” Richie taunted him.

Eddie couldn’t believe what he was hearing and he tugged at the end of Richie’s jacket fearfully, “Rich—”

“What the fuck did you just say to me, you faggot?” Henry snarled. He threw a punch before Richie could say anything else, he let out a sneering laugh when his fist connected with Richie’s mouth, the smirk on his face slid off as Richie slowly turned back to look at him, face blank with blood running down his busted lip, before he gave Henry a bloodied smile, eyes sharp and threateningly dark.

Eddie froze in terror and curled his fingers in Richie’s jacket. He looked at Henry, who just seemed to lock up, turning still as a statue, and he couldn’t see what Henry saw, but the older man’s face paled.

“Y-you’re a fucking freak!” Henry shouted and turned tail and ran to his car, quickly speeding away down the road.

Richie turned to face Eddie, soft smile back in place, despite that blood was dripping off his chin, “Ready to go?”

“Richie, you’re bleeding!” Eddie shrilled. “C’mon, my house is closer than yours, let’s go,” he fretted and tugged Richie along, who easily kept stride with his shorter friend.

~~~

Richie peered at the Kaspbrak’s house, it looked plain and ordinary, he was pulled up the deep green steps and then he was pulled inside, the inner hall was dark, he could see into the kitchen that was straight ahead, and to his right he saw the staircase, the hall light was on at the top, and further to his right he peered into a living room and he saw a very plump woman in a recliner, staring at him with beady eyes from behind her glasses.

“Hi, Mommy,” Eddie greeted her softly.

“Who is this, Eddie-bear?” his mother asked in a sugary, faux tone. She pushed the recliner forward until her pink slipper-donned feet touched the carpet, “You didn’t say you were bringing company.”

“Sorry, Mommy,” Eddie said apologetically, practically pushing Richie behind him. “This is Richie Tozier, he’s the new kid at our school. He’s just hanging out for a little bit until he has to go pick up his little sister after her music lessons.”

“Oh,” his mother huffed, she squinted at Richie accusingly, as if he had done something to her son, even though Richie was the one who was injured and bleeding. 

Richie thought she’d had a fit if he bled on her carpet; he was sorely tempted to see what would happen.

“He, um, fell, so I’m going to fix him up in the bathroom,” Eddie said hurriedly and then was gesturing for Richie to go upstairs, he ignored his mother’s questions.

Richie was practically pushed all the way upstairs, a little bit down the hall, and into a tiny bathroom, the flick was flicked on, bathing the small white bathroom in yellowed light, and then was sat on the closed toilet lid, he watched Eddie shut the door and kneel down to get under the sink to pull out a large latched first-aid kit, “Looks like you’re prepared for the worst, next time I’ll come to you if I ever get knifed by your older _friend_,” he mused.

Eddie side-eyed him, “My mom is overly paranoid, dude and Bowers isn’t my friend. I’d rather kiss a dumpster than ever be his friend,” a disgusted shiver raced through him.

“I see where you get it,” Richie teased him about his mother.

“Stop talking,” Eddie huffed and dampened a washcloth and gently dabbed at the split area. “Jesus, Rich, you gotta avoid Henry now, he’ll try to fucking kill you next time.”

“Well, he has to try better the next time, he’s not so scary,” Richie replied. He saw that Eddie was frowning at that, “Hey,” he called gently and waited until Eddie looked at him.

Eddie finally looked at Richie, entranced by those dark eyes, “W-What?” he stammered, getting flustered by the intense look.

Richie didn’t answer, he leaned forward and pressed his lips gently to Eddie’s slackened ones, his eyes only lidded halfway; he could still watch Eddie as he pulled back slowly and saw that Eddie looked completely aghast, he furrowed his brows, “Eddie?”

“Y-you can’t just do that!” Eddie spluttered. He saw the confusion on Richie’s face, “You know you can’t just kiss someone without permission.”

“Permission?” Richie echoed curiously, giving Eddie a confused look, tilting his head like a puzzled puppy.

“Yes, _permission_, Richie, you can’t just go kissing other people without their consent,” Eddie told him.

“I thought if two people who clearly like each other, like, want to have sex with each other, it was okay to kiss?” Richie asked, confusion still written on his face.

“O-oh, my God, Richie, _shh!_” Eddie hissed, cheeks aflame as he covered Richie’s mouth, who flinched under his touch. “Shit, sorry, sorry, did I hurt you?” Eddie asked as he hastily withdrew his hand.

Richie shrugged, “It’s okay if it’s you,” he murmured.

Eddie’s face still burned, “I’m gonna go grab you an icepack, I’ll be right back!” he rushed out of the bathroom and down the stairs; his heart was in his throat the whole time as he shakily grabbed an ice pack from the freeze and almost dropped it a couple times when he was wrapping it in a tea towel.

He stood in the archway of the kitchen, knees still shaking a little; he had the right to panic, okay? Eddie had never been kissed before and the phantom kiss still lingered on his lips. Eddie could feel that this face was still hot, but he couldn’t dawdle any longer; he had an injured Richie in his bathroom.

By the time he got back upstairs and to the closed bathroom door, he hesitated before taking a slow breath in and out and opened it, only to find the bathroom empty much to his bewilderment, because he knew he would have saw or heard Richie leave.

“Ma,” Eddie called as he walked down the stairs and rounded the corner to the living room, where his mom was still watching her gameshow. “Did you see Richie leave?”

“No, Eddie-Bear,” his mother answered him. She looked like she ate something sour, “And you shouldn’t be messing with that boy, he’s dirty.”

“What are you talking about?” Eddie scowled. “Ma, you don’t even know him!”

“Nobody is good enough for my baby,” Sonia reminded him curtly. “Now, go wash up, mommy is going to start dinner,” she chirped and hefted herself from her recliner.

Eddie had to fight back another vicious scowl and went back to the kitchen and put the ice pack back and hung the tea towel back over the oven handle before sulking back upstairs.

He had a bad feeling about this.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, sorry adlfkjdlkf

As Eddie predicted, the following week was an awful one.

Richie hadn’t been at school for the rest of the week, no one could get ahold of him via text nor phone calls, as the calls went to automatically to his voicemail, and no one could get onto his property either.

Eddie had gone to Richie’s after school on Friday, he parked his car outside the gate and text and rung Richie to no avail. He even honked for good measure, but he highly doubted they heard it all the way back there.

It didn’t help that his friends took him out to his favorite diner for a pity dinner and milkshake; Eddie hated that it felt like a breakup, especially upset when they hadn’t even been dating.

“I should have just kissed him back,” Eddie muttered around his straw, glaring down at the basket of fries that were mostly untouched.

Beverly nearly choked on her milkshake and hastily wiped away what escaped her lips before it got onto her sweater dress, “I’m sorry, _what_ did you just say?” she demanded.

“We kissed, or, Richie kissed me, I fucking _scolded_ him and when I came back, he was gone,” Eddie didn’t see the point of beating around the bush with his friends.

Stan looked gob-smacked by that information, “What the hell prompted that?”

Eddie seemed to sink lower into the rounded booth, “We ran into Bowers.”

Ben sunk in his seat too, Mike and Beverly were on either side of him, the farmer put a calming hand on Ben’s shoulder as Beverly took Ben’s hand between both of hers and held his hand in her lap.

“W-what ha-happened?” Bill asked him worriedly.

“Bowers called us names and Richie insulted him,” Eddie managed to look proud before the frown came back onto his face, “and then Bowers hit him, busted his lip, but I don’t know what happened next,” his face pinched in confusion as he remembered, “Bowers just freaked the fuck out and _ran_,” he told them all, tone expressing that it sounded insane.

“Richie bled?” Mike asked him, puzzled.

Eddie looked at him, “Uh, yea, dude, pretty sure that’s what happens when you get punched in the mouth.”

Mike could feel Ben’s curious look, “Bowers can still throw a hit mean punch then, huh,” he deflected the odd stares.

“Yea,” Eddie huffed. “So, I took him back to my house, fixed him up the bathroom and then he kissed me,” his cheeks were burning. “And I told him that he couldn’t just kiss people without permission and then went downstairs to get him an ice pack and when I came back, he was gone.”

“Sounds like he just wanted to kiss _you_, Eddie,” Beverly pointed out, but it wasn’t sarcastic sounding.

“He probably thinks that you rejected him,” Stan commented, which made Eddie feel worse and Stan panicked a little. “I’m sure this can be fix, don’t get upset!” he hastily added.

“How can I fix this when he won’t answer his fucking phone!” Eddie snapped angrily, getting a few stares from other people eating. Eddie normally would have ducked his head in shame, but he leveled his hostile gaze with an older man, “What?” he snapped.

The man as well as the rest of the people staring quickly looked away.

“Fuckin’ mind your business,” Eddie muttered.

Stan sympathetically fed Eddie a french-fry as Bill gingerly patted Eddie on the shoulder.

“W-well, I c-can at least t-t-tell you th-that R-R-Richie hasn’t l-left,” Bill told Eddie. “His s-sister is in G-G-Georgie’s cl-class.”

Eddie wanted to let out a relieved sigh, but it was obvious that Richie was hiding himself away. “So, he is just avoiding me,” he concluded grumpily.

“Hey, he can’t ditch school forever,” Stan kindly reminded him.

“Unless he chooses to be homeschooled again,” Eddie glumly countered and he heard Stan out a somewhat miffed sigh. “I’m just stating the obvious!”

“You’re being a Debbie Downer,” Ben joked and flushed when Beverly giggled.

“You’d be too if the situation was reversed,” Eddie argued.

Mike grinned, “I think you’re the only one batting for Richie.”

“Good,” Eddie said firmly, looking each of his friends sternly in the eyes and all them promised there was not going to be any foul play. “And if Richie does come back, please don’t say anything to him. I want to clear things up myself.”

“Aw, Eddie, you’re being all grown up,” Beverly mock-wiped away a tear from her eye.

Eddie scoffed, “Not all of us can have a winning boyfriend okay. My future one is just shy and jumps the gun sometimes.”

“I’m the best man,” Stan said before Bill could even open his mouth.

Bill shot Stan a betrayed look.

Eddie laughed and smiled at all the jokes until his cheeks hurt; he could fix this mini rift with Richie. 

When he finished his chocolate shake, he saw that Mike was giving him a worried look and before he could ask what that was about, Mike just shook his head, waving him off.

Eddie didn’t know if he wanted to know what that was about.

~~~

Come Monday, Eddie was a ball of nerves and his heart sunk somewhat when he saw that it was only him and Stan as the first ones to be in class; no Richie and sight. He really tried to keep the crestfallen expression from his face and it didn’t help that Stan kept periodically checking on him when the rest of their class was filtering in.

About 10 seconds before the bell, Richie slipped in class, keeping his eyes downcast as he pulled out his thick English text book from his backpack; they were reviewing his week, judging by the packets that they were going to have to fill out that correlated with the lessons in the text book.

Ms. Birch gave them verbal instructions before writing them on the board too. She passed out the first packet, warning them that they were going to be due on Wednesday, and if they finished early, they could grab the second packet or could use the remaining time as a study hall.

Well, this meant that it was going to be a quiet week in English and Ms. Birch wasn’t going to allow group work either. Eddie sighed quietly in silent remorse, he did see Richie briefly tense up and Eddie had to look away from him, or else he’d be staring at Richie’s back until class ended.

Begrudgingly, Eddie flipped open his text book and tried to make sense of the words printed before him and desperately tried to push all thoughts of Richie from the furthest part of his mind.

He managed to get to work with little to no distracting or depressing thoughts.

Eddie had finished his work about five minutes before the bell, so he closed his text book, stood up and purposely brushed by Richie, who had tensed before the contact, and Eddie paused, looking at him, but Richie remained to keep his eyes down on his journal that he was doodling in.

“Sorry, Rich,” Eddie murmured as he stepped by the dark-haired boy and turned in his packet to Ms. Birch. He turned around and saw that Richie was actually looking at him imploringly and Eddie hoped that the gentle smile he mustered was enough to stop Richie from avoiding him later.

Richie’s face remained stoic; he didn’t return the gesture. He went back to his journal, properly ignoring Eddie now, he didn’t even react when Eddie had swept by to sit back down.

Eddie really tried not to let that hurt. He saw Stan looking at him in the corner of his eye, Eddie turned to him and gave a helpless shrug; his chest hurt and whatever Stan saw on his face must have struck up some protective anger, because Eddie watched Stan turn his head forward and then ram the sole of his foot into the under basket that was attached to Richie’s desk.

Some kids looked up, startled from the sound, even Ms. Birch, who gave Stan a cursory look, before going back to her computer, but most of all, Richie hadn’t even reacted and Eddie gave Stan a disapproving look..

The bell rang and Richie was the first one out of the room before Eddie could even speak up and Stan was quickly putting his things up in his bag before heading to the front of desk line and waited for Eddie, his lips were pursed angrily.

“What a dickhead,” Stan muttered when he and Eddie were leaving English. 

“I guess that means he won’t be joining us for lunch,” Eddie sighed. He felt Stan clap him on the shoulder, “Sorry, I shouldn’t be so whiny. I don’t know why I’m letting it eat at me so bad.”

“Because you like him, Eddie, and I’m sorry that things aren’t working out,” Stan said, his voice was a little curt, as he was still wound up that Richie made Eddie look so upset by doing _nothing._

Eddie muttered that he’d see Stan at lunch and shuffled off to his next class.

~~~

When lunch had come and ended, Eddie had been distracted by his friends the whole time, Stan must have updated them, because Beverly was extra sweet and gave him her extra cookie she had.

Bill was keeping him distracted by talking about the bullshit history project he had and Eddie agreed, he wasn’t happy about it either, and after that, he was glad for the mindless chatter.

His other two classes seemed to go by quickly, Eddie didn’t know if he was keeping himself busy to the point that time blurred on by, or the universe just wanted to pick on Eddie, because the last class approached and much to Eddie’s utter dismay, Richie was present and sitting in his usual spot.

There weren’t assigned seats, but if you picked a chair and sat there for a few weeks and everyone else had their seat, you were supposed to keep to the regimen and not fuck up the silent flow of regulation.

Eddie almost threw that stone to just see what would happen, which he doubted anything would happen, the other kid would just have to take the empty seat next to Richie, but something bitter sprouted in his gut at the idea of someone else sitting there.

And so, Eddie sat in his normal seat. He didn’t drag his or Richie’s desk closer to each other, he kept the normal walk space between their desks accessible and Eddie pulled out his chemistry homework; he didn’t get to finish the essay part before class ended.

His mechanical pencil had just touched the first line before there was a journal sliding onto his desk, Eddie’s eyes took in the familiar drawing of the hangman game and Eddie looked over at Richie, who was giving him a sheepish look.

Eddie pushed his homework away and slid his desk back by Richie’s, not quite touching, but the gap that had been between them had shortened and Eddie felt the weight of today lift from his shoulders.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!!~
> 
> Shortish chapter, also a bit of a trigger warning towards the end of the fic, talks about eating disorders.

Eddie had made a new group chat and let his friends know that he was slowly mending things back together with Richie and asked them to keep normal as possible, which was hard for Stan, Bill, and Beverly, because they were ready to fight Richie.

Mike and Ben were the only calm ones in this scenario. Ben, bless his soul, had counter reasons why conflict would not bring Richie back to their group, it of course broke Stan first, because he was the most logical one, Bill and Beverly had stubbornness that could rival Eddie’s. It took more persuasion from Mike to have the other two back off, even if he was being oddly weird about it, saying not to anger Richie.

Eddie still didn’t know why Mike viewed Richie as a threat sometimes.

But, nonetheless, Richie was gradually coming around again, he still kept his distance in class and lunch, but Eddie actively had Richie’s attention at the end of the day and when they were loitering outside until Richie had to pick up his sister from her music lessons.

The two were currently on the elementary school swings, Eddie absolutely found it hilarious how Richie basically had grasshopper legs, they were bent sharply, as the swings were lower to the ground for the younger kids, and even for Eddie the seats were a little low, but he still swung on the swing.

They faced each other, which was easier for them when they spoke, Eddie swung as Richie remained grounded, content to watch Eddie swing back and forth, talking about everything all over again.

It really warmed Eddie up that Richie was basically back to his normal self.

“So, do your friends hate me? Beverly looked like she wants to trip me down the stairs every time she saw me,” Richie asked when they had lapsed into silence for a bit, the only sound was the swing creaking.

“They don’t hate you, they’re just protective,” Eddie answered. “My fault anyway…” he said much more softly. He gasped when Richie’s hand caught the chain of the swing, almost stopping Eddie instantly, “What the fuck, Richie! I almost had a heart attack!” he shouted.

“It’s not your fault, don’t ever think that what I did was your fault,” Richie coldly said, leveling Eddie with a sharp glare that had the shorter boy frozen under his gaze.

Eddie nodded, unable to speak; Richie had that dark look on his face again before the taller gently let go of the swing and Eddie swayed side to side gently before coming to a slow stop. He frowned as he looked at Richie, “I should have kissed you back.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Richie muttered, his words muffled in the dark red scarf that he wore around his neck. 

Eddie was wearing a blue one and he ducked his face into it, “Sorry,” he murmured, hoping the wool swallowed his words; he didn’t want to argue with Richie for once, this wasn’t petty arguments, this was deep emotional territory for him. He was young and _love_ may not be a factor as far as he knew, but Eddie was scared of this type of emotional shit.

“Stop being sorry, _you _didn’t do anything,” Richie curtly reminded him. 

Eddie’s shoulders slumped, “But I did. I pushed you away, I threw a fit over something so trivial. You make it sound like you came onto me or something!”

“Because I basically did!” Richie snapped, standing up. He jammed his hands into his jacket pockets, it was the one he was wearing the first time he climbed up Eddie’s window, because Eddie still had possession over his denim one.

“That was like a kindergartener kiss, Rich,” Eddie flatly corrected. He grimaced, “And a little bloody,” he tacked on and then got up, walking towards Richie, who stood stiff like a pole, and he frowned. “How is your lip by the way?”

“All healed up, Dr. K,” Richie reassured him and went easily when Eddie fussed over him, letting himself get sat on the merry-go-round that squealed as it moved. He looked up when Eddie put his index finger under his chin and gently tilted his head up; Richie saw that Eddie was intently studying his face and for once, Richie felt a little nervous to be pinned under such an intense gaze.

“I want to kiss you,” Eddie said suddenly, he saw Richie’s eyes get darker, but it wasn’t the unpleasant kind, from all the lovey-dovey, mushy books he had to read in English, Eddie was only grateful for it this one time, because he could finally tell what a yearning, desiring gaze looked like; this was it. He had all about two seconds before Richie was standing again and sweeping him close, Eddie felt one arm tighten around his waist and the other free hand cupped Eddie’s face as Richie kissed him solidly.

“Permission,” Richie mused as he pulled back, but his lips still brushed against Eddie’s when he spoke. He felt Eddie’s warm breath on his face and gazed between Eddie’s beautiful eyes, “I get that now.”

“Suppose it’s a little hotter if we started to date and you’d just randomly kiss me, since you’ll have all the permission then,” Eddie rambled, cheeks growing warm and tried to struggle out of Richie’s grip when the taller boy gave him a smug look.

“Are you asking me to be your boyfriend, Kaspbrak?” Richie asked him cutely.

“Shut. Up. You’re the _worst_,” Eddie grumbled.

Richie laughed, nuzzling his cold nose along Eddie’s soft cheek, “I think I’d really like it though, being your boyfriend. Though, I can already tell you that you’d have all the boyfriend privilege in the world with me.”

“Shouldn’t have told me that, Tozier,” Eddie tutted him, “now I’ll expect you to take me out for shakes every Friday.”

“Done deal, not a bad requirement,” Richie smiled endearingly.

Eddie’s heart warbled in his chest, “You’re a sap.”

“The biggest,” Richie agreed, kissing Eddie, because now he could.

“Are you two done being gross?” a young girl’s voice spoke up.

Eddie nearly yelped at the third voice and he turned his head quickly and saw a girl, who he presumed to be Richie’s sister, he had never actually gotten the chance to meet her. 

She was shorter than Eddie, she looked like she was only to the middle of Eddie’s chest, her eyes were a lighter brown that matched the color of her hair that was in a braid, her lips were in a small grimace and she messed with the purple beanie she was wearing and puffed her bangs out of her eyes.

“Hey, Kim,” Richie greeted her, “done being a musical nerd?”

“Shut up, it’s freezing, let’s go home already,” Kimmy pouted at her brother. She eyed Eddie critically, she seemed sharper than a normal 10-year-old, “Bring him too, I guess. Momma likes company,” she said and started to walk towards the front of the school.

Richie offered Eddie his hand and smiled when his _boyfriend_ took it and they walked hand-and-hand to his car, since he drove today.

Eddie never felt warmer, even if he had to ride in the backseat because Kimmy got what she wanted, but she was at least kind enough to move the seat up a little, even though Richie said he wouldn’t need the extra space; Eddie soon liked Richie’s little sister when she pinched Richie’s cheek for making a short joke.

~~~

The drive was filled with soft music playing in the background that was overlapped by Kimmy’s chatter of her day and dread for the Halloween school play that was in a couple weeks.

Richie listened to her all the way home, “And you’re sure you don’t need any help with your costume or the reciting” he asked as they pulled to the front door; he was going to drop his sister off at the front door before he parked in the garage.

“Nope, Georgie has been practicing lines with me, and it’s not hard being a vampire goddess; it’s natural for me,” Kimmy replied proudly and snickered when Richie rolled his eyes at her. She turned in her seat, “It was nice meeting you, Eddie!” she beamed before hopping out of the car and racing inside.

“She’s cute,” Eddie mused and heard Richie groan.

“Don’t let her fool you,” Richie warned as he drove around the circle driveway so he could park in the garage.

“You sure fooled me,” Eddie commented as slid out of the car when Richie turned his car off. Walked around to the driver’s side and didn’t have to wait, as his boyfriend was already out of the car, “Not worried about Bill’s little brother having a crush on your sister?”

“Does he now?” Richie asked as he slung his arm around Eddie’s shoulders. He hummed happily when Eddie laced their fingers together, “I’m not giving him the shovel talk, I should be giving that to Kimmy.”

“Georgie is sweet, Bill was probably going to warn you beforehand about it, because Georgie wanted to take her with his family to drive through the park for the Halloween lightshow that they do for almost every holiday,” Eddie said.

“That sounds fun,” Richie replied, “she’s never done that before. We really haven’t left the house much…since well, now for school.”

Eddie looked bewildered, looking up at Richie, “Is this your first time off the property?” he asked.

Richie paused at the front door, he looked down at Eddie, a serious expression on his face, “My parents were overprotective. My mom is just too ill to keep tabs on Kimmy or on me; my dad was just a control freak and my mother worried about us a lot, but she always took walks with us on our property…so it wasn’t too suffocating when Kimmy and I could lose her in the woods.”

“Still,” Eddie fretted. He was shivering a bit and felt Richie gently guide him inside where they stood in the inside the main hall, “She won’t get upset…if we’re dating right?”

“My mom is a lover, she’d never dislike you, you’re too lovable and cute to hate,” Richie reassured him with a soft kiss. “She’s making dinner, won’t you stay?” he asked, even batting his eyelashes at Eddie, who laughed, and gently pushed at him.

“Of course,” Eddie sincerely answered, not even dreading the consequences with his mother, because he’d most likely get home late.

Richie and Eddie kicked off their shoes by the door and dumped their bookbags on the ground and hung up their coats and scarves before heading into the kitchen.

Eddie heard Kimmy talking to her mom about her day too and he felt a little out of place as Richie told him to sit down at the island, he watched Richie head straight to the fridge and got them drinks.

“Hello, sweetie,” Maggie greeted her son, leaving the stove briefly to kiss his forehead. “Did you have a good day as well?” she asked as she went back to the stove to check on the noodles.

“Sure did, same old, same old,” Richie answered her. He was scanning a chart on the fridge, his finger stayed next to pretty cursive that was in glittery purple ink, “Oh, sweet, Abbi came by today?”

“Did she bring her lemon drop cookies?” Kimmy asked her mother excitedly.

“Yes and yes,” Maggie laughed. “But dinner first, sweet pea,” she lightly reminded her daughter. She looked at Richie, “Will you be joining us today or are you going to—”

“I’ll be here, mom,” Richie cut in quickly. He gestured to where Eddie was, “Brought company, you remember Eddie, right?”

Maggie’s eyes got wide, “Oh,” she gasped, dropping the wooden spoon that would have splashed boiling hot water on her, had Richie not reacted so quickly. She turned and saw Eddie, who was giving her a worried look, he was half way out of his seat to help her it looked, “I’m so sorry, Eddie, I didn’t see you there!” she apologized.

“It’s okay, Mrs. Tozier, it’s not a big deal,” Eddie reassured her. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Ma, why don’t you take a seat for a minute? I’ll drain the pasta,” Richie said, gently nudging her forward to one of the empty chairs at the island table.

“Sweetie, I’m not invalid, Abbi said this was one of my good days,” Maggie argued lightly. She tried to step close to the stove again, but Richie denied her and this time, an angry flush raced up her pale face, “Richard Wentworth Tozier,” she scolded sharply. “When I say I’m fine, you don’t question me about it, young man!”

Richie at least looked sheepish before gingerly passing over the cooled wooden spoon back to her, “Sorry, ma,” he apologized and stepped back, sliding into the empty seat next to Eddie.

“_Oooh_, someone is in trouble,” Kimmy said singsongingly and giggled when Richie tried to tickle her side. 

Eddie didn’t feel that it was appropriate to laugh, so he silently held Richie’s hand under the table and felt Richie lightly squeeze at his hand in a silent thank you that had Eddie gently bumping into him with this shoulder.

“Eddie, would you prefer the lemon garlic sauce or plain Alfredo sauce?” Maggie asked when she had finished draining the pasta and put the pasta back into the pot.

Eddie said he liked the first one, which Kimmy cheered too.

“Thank God you’re normal,” Kimmy smiled to Eddie. “Mom just likes _everything_ plain. No flavor, no nothing!” she exclaimed in disbelief.

Eddie laughed, “I think you’d like my baked chicken that I make. My mother always hates it when I use more than salt and pepper.”

“Ugh, _white_ people tastes,” Kimmy grimaced.

“Kimmy, I hate to break it to you, but you’re also white,” Richie reminded her with a chuckle.

“Yea, but I like seasoning,” Kimmy retorted. “Ugh, I never told you about Ashlyn’s mom making green bean casserole, did I? Well, too bad if you’ve heard it before, but her mom made the wateriest green bean casserole _ever _in the history of casseroles. I don’t think she drained the can and the crunchy breading on top was completely mushy!”

“You’re such a foodie,” Richie teased her and listened to his sister huff at him.

“Really, like your tastes are so much better?” Kimmy taunted before shutting her mouth when Richie narrowed his eyes.

Eddie turned towards him, “Oh? What appeals to your taste buds?” asked him, truly interested as not once has Richie ever eaten in front of him. He felt Richie’s fingers flex between his and Eddie gave him an inquisitive look.

Richie shrugged at the question, “I’m not overly picky.”

Kimmy scoffed quietly.

“Kimmy,” Maggie said firmly as she was preparing plates. “One more quip out of you and you won’t get any of those lemon drop cookies for dessert, missy.”

“Yes, mama, sorry, Richie,” Kimmy apologized to her brother.

“Oh, Mrs. Tozier, I’m so sorry, but I’m fine, you don’t have to make me a plate,” Eddie said to her kindly.

Maggie frowned, “Are you sure, honey? It’s no trouble at all. I’m about to pull garlic croissants out of the oven.”

“I’m good, thank you though,” Eddie replied, the same sweet smile on his face.

“Okay,” Maggie relented somewhat. She gave Richie a stern look, “If he’s hungry, you’ll bring him right downstairs to eat.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Richie saluted and heard his mother laugh gently. Richie nudged him, “Want to go upstairs so I can wipe the floor with you at Mario Kart?”

Eddie didn’t let himself get intimidated by that challenging stare, Eddie gave him one right back, “You’re on,” he said and grabbed his drink, following after Richie all the way upstairs.

When they reached Richie’s bedroom, Richie again left the door ajar before sitting onto his bed, Eddie falling into the space next to him after putting his drink on the bedside table. 

Richie started up his TV and turned the Switch on, “Seriously, if you start to get hungry, let me know and I’ll go grab you some pasta,” he informed Eddie.

“Well, I don’t want to eat in front of you, so I’ll just suck it up,” Eddie responded.

“It’s not good for you to do that to your body,” Richie chided him, starting up the game.

Eddie looked at him, face completely serious, “It’s not good for you either,” he said softly before grabbing the gray remote from Richie.

“I don’t have an eating disorder, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Richie explained. He heard Eddie give him a quiet okay, “Eddie, I’m not bulimic or anorexic, I’m just little choosey about what I eat.”

“Okay, I believe you,” Eddie tried to make it sound more sincere, but it was obvious that Richie was still calling his bluff. 

“You wouldn’t understand,” Richie finally sighed, deflating a little.

“You don’t have to say anything to me,” Eddie replied gently. He cautiously took Richie’s left hand into his own, pleased that Richie didn’t pull back, “Just know that I’m here if you ever need to vent or just talk, okay?”

Richie thanked him softly.

“Now, pick your character, because I’m going to leave you in the dust,” Eddie declared.

“You’re on,” Richie’s smirk was sharp.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited for when this fic actually starts to pick up, but for now, it's just gonna be mushy, drama city lakdjfdaldkj

Despite getting a scolding from his mother, Eddie didn’t let that bring down his mood; his mom probably thought he had taken something, because he had been smiling all dopily; Richie had drove him home, walked him to the door, and then proceeded to snog the living daylights out of him against the porch fence for a solid two minutes.

Then that following morning, Richie picked him up for school, Kimmy rode in the backseat this time, she was busy playing some game on her phone other than to hastily mutter a good morning to Eddie, before telling them goodbye 10-ish minutes later as Richie dropped her off at the elementary school.

“How’s your mom?” Eddie asked, he didn’t want to bring it up front of Kimmy.

Richie paused at the gearshift before putting his car in park when they got into the high school parking lot. He sighed, “She, um, it was a bad episode this morning. I woke up around 3 this morning to check on her, she wasn’t in bed, so I called Abbi when I couldn’t find her in the house. Abbi and I scouted the whole damn property for her for about 2 hours, and then we found her, we have this little memorial area for my dad in the far back of the yard; she was digging the dirt up with her hands.”

Eddie thought Richie had looked exhausted, but now the shadowy circles under his eyes made much more sense, “Jesus, Richie…” he breathed, “you should be at home! Is Kimmy okay?”

“I can’t miss anymore school,” Richie lamely argued. “She knows, Abbi broke it down carefully for her, so…she sort of clammed up about the whole ordeal. I talked to Abbi after Kimmy went back upstairs to get ready for school, we may have a permanent nurse to take one of the guest bedrooms. I’m also thinking about getting Kimmy signed up for some sort of therapy; it’s taking its toll on her and I hate seeing her so emotionally cut off.”

Eddie gawked, completely baffled at how mature Richie sounded and it also sounded like too much for a 17-year-old to handle; it wasn’t fair to Richie to handle all of this on his own. Eddie held Richie’s hand, “I’m here for you, I’ll try to help you anyway I can, okay? Not just because you’re my boyfriend, but because you’re my friend too.”

Richie gave him a tired smile, “Thank you, Eddie, it really does mean a lot,” he whispered and leaned over to kiss Eddie gently. “Sorry for venting…it’s just tiring to keep it all inside.”

“No, don’t apologize, you can always talk to me, and if you don’t want to, then you should probably look for a professional too, gods know they’re smarter than some kid who doesn’t know what to do with his life,” Eddie tried to joke and he saw Richie just exhale a soft laugh.

“C’mon, I don’t want to ruin your pristine record of being first to class if we’re late,” Richie teased him as he got out of his car and grabbed his backpack from the backseat.

Eddie had kept his between his feet and waited for Richie; pleasantly shivering when Richie joined their hands, “Really, I’m going to get mittens for you,” he said, taking Richie’s hand into his coat pocket.

“I’ll invest in some,” Riche promised, but the smile on his face said otherwise.

~~~

“What’s this?” Eddie asked when Beverly slid over a horrendously purple and orange striped paper with neon green lettering on it, which he read; it was a Halloween party for this Friday.

“Sounds festive,” Richie murmured as he read it too from where he rested his head on Eddie’s shoulder. “Sucks that it has to be the day after Halloween, since Halloween falls on a fucking Thursday, what kind of bullshit is that?” he asked.

“Extreme bullshit,” Beverly agreed.

“A-and that G-Georgie’s plu-play is on W-Wednesday; it’s g-going to b-be a busy week,” Bill sighed. He had already seen the invitation from Bev in his second period class, he was excited to go, despite being busy with his brother’s school play, and then Thursday he was taking Georgie trick-or-treating, as their parents were going to some adult Halloween party, and then come Friday, it was post-Halloween party time for all teens.

“Yea, I’m going to be with Kimmy for her play and taking her out for candy,” Richie told Bill and sat up, giving Bill a hopefully smile. “Care to team up to handle the double trouble?”

“G-Georgie asked K-Kimmy t-to go with h-him, s-so yea, i-it will b-b-be fun!” Bill replied happily. 

Richie sulked, “Kimmy tells me nothing of her crush-life, so I have to get all the deets from you,” he whined to Bill.

“Because you tease her!” Eddie reminded him. 

“Out of sibling love!” Richie protested and stuck out his tongue at Eddie.

Eddie rolled his eyes, but had a fond look on his face, “She’s probably just busy with her life at school, Rich. Georgie just tells Bill everything because he has such a guilty conscious like his big brother.”

“It’s tr-true,” Bill shrugged. 

“Well, that settles that, Big Bill and I are taking our baby sibs out for trick-or-treating, any of you lazy bums want to join us?” Richie asked. “Or will you leave us to perish to be surrounded by screaming children all night?”

“Then perish,” Beverly answered, a wicked grin on her face. “Kidding! I’m not doing anything!”

“I’m not either,” Ben told them.

Stan agreed that he was free too, “We can just go as a group,” he said.

Bill got his phone out, “I-I’ll text M-Mikey,” he informed his friends.

“Of course you are,” Beverly mused and took a drink of her milk when Bill shot her a look, which she pointedly did not look back at him.

“_Bill_,” Eddie gawked, like he had been scandalized. “Care to share with the rest of your friends?” he prompted.

Bill luckily was saved by the bell, who said a hasty farewell before scrambling out the cafeteria.

“This topic isn’t over!” Eddie cried and he glared when Stan laughed. “What, don’t tell me you _knew_ about Bill’s fat crush on Mike.”

“You’ve been a little preoccupied with your own thing,” Stan reminded him lightly, glancing over at Richie, they shared amused smiles.

“You’re all horrible,” Eddie sulked and huffed when Richie and Beverly cooed at him. “Horrible, _all_ of you,” he repeated and tried to wriggle away from his boyfriend when Richie tried to pull him close by wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

“Don’t sulk too much, which is just as cute, if not cuter when you’re oblivious,” Richie teased him.

Eddie merely elbowed Richie in the ribs. 

They were walking out of the cafeteria, Beverly, Ben, and Stan with them, which Stan left the group first, as his class was in the opposite direction, Richie shared economics with Ben and Beverly, and Eddie’s Spanish class was right across from him, so he could walk him to class, but first they were all headings to their lockers to get their books.

They regrouped outside their class doors, chattering on about festivities that were happening this week, before telling each other goodbye as class was about to start soon.

Richie detangled himself from Eddie, hearing a couple wolf-whistles from Eddie’s class, and he couldn’t help but grin as Eddie’s face pinkened, “See you soon,” he winked, mindful of PDA in front of the other students and the teacher, who was eyeing Ritchie critically.

“Hola, Señora Tencher! Nos vemos la próxima clase!” Richie greeted his Spanish teacher, who merely gave him a light-lipped smile, and uttered that she would also see him next class as well. Richie winked at Eddie again before backing out of the classroom and across next door, sliding into his seat next to Ben just as the bell rang and let out a _‘Phew!’_ and wiped the imaginary sweat from his forehead, which had Ben laughing adorably.

Throughout Spanish, Eddie felt like he was the talk of the class, but for once, it wasn’t a bullying thing, some of his peers were curious about Richie, because it seemed that Richie kept to himself in the classes that he didn’t share with the Losers.

It didn’t surprise Eddie in the slightest, but at the same time, he was surprised that Richie _had_ opened up to Eddie almost immediately, because he remembered Bill making a comment that while in Home Economics before they became friends with Richie, that some other students had really tried to strike up a conversation with Richie, denying friendship to other boys and girls, but was completely fine with Eddie.

“Maybe he just liked you from the start,” Megan sighed unhappily, twirling a strand of her brownish-red hair dejectedly. She pouted at Eddie, “Lucky you, I suppose. Do you know if he’s just into boys?” she asked.

“Why?” Eddie frowned at her.

“Your mom is fucking psycho, Kaspbrak,” her friend Emily spoke up. “If she catches wind that you’re dating _and_ that you’re dating a boy, I bet your mom will raise hell like she did last time when Tiffaney Lakes asked you out in the 9th grade, and then you and Richie will have to break up.”

Eddie scowled at the memory, his mother had spotted a letter in his bedroom that he had accidently taken out of his backpack, read Tiffaney’s letters she had wrote to him, and drove to the school, made a huge scandal that Tiffaney had been sexually harassing Eddie, she had been expelled, and soon after that, her and her family had moved out of Derry.

It had been a brutal year and a half for Eddie after that, because Henry and his lackies taunted and harassed Eddie about it any chance they found him and soon, he was the laughingstock of the school.

“She won’t find out,” Eddie said stiffy.

The two girls made disbelieving faces at that statement.

“Silencio, estudiantes. Gracias,” Mrs. Tencher chided them lightly.

“Lo siento, Señora,” they drawled out apologetically.

Eddie ducked his head and chewed at his pencil worriedly; what the fuck would his mother do if she caught Eddie with Richie? His stomach clenched in fear and his food felt like poison in his gut; he would have to be careful.

~~~

Richie knew there was something wrong with Eddie, but he didn’t bring it up until they had their last class together. He immediately pulled Eddie’s desk flush against his and gingerly traced a finger down Eddie’s forearm, “What happened in Spanish?” he prompted lightly.

“What do you mean?” Eddie asked him, panicking a little and he saw the frown Richie gave him. Eddie’s shoulder slumped, “Guess it’s not a good way to start a relationship if I’m trying to hide something. I just don’t want to burden you with my worries.”

Richie shook his head, “You’d never burden me anything, Eddie. If you don’t want to talk about it, we don’t have too.”

Eddie exhaled quietly and gave his boyfriend a sad look, “The girls in Spanish I spoke with reminded me a dark day in my freshmen year. A girl had asked me out, she wrote me letters and really was just a nice girl all around, she was smart and on the track team.”

Richie nodded at him, “Okay, so what happened to her?”

Eddie was relieved that Richie was actually curious and not asking out of jealousy, “Um…my mom found out,” he whispered as more kids filtered in the class. “Not that I was too hung up about it…I’m not interested into girls,” he added sheepishly and rolled his eyes when Richie looked particularly smug. “My mom went through my stuff in my bedroom, she found the letters Tiffaney wrote me. My mom then came to the school, made a huge scene about it and got her expelled, and the next thing, Tiffaney and her family up and left Derry. I felt fucking horrible about it,” Eddie whispered shyly, his cheeks burned.

“Are you scared what she’ll do if she finds out that we’re dating?” Richie asked him gently.

Eddie thought he was going to start to cry due to the soft look Richie was giving to him, so all he could do was silently nod. He heard Richie coo softly at him and Eddie bowed his head, “It’s not funny.”

“It’s not,” Richie agreed. He made sure that Ms. Hammond wasn’t paying attention before leaning over to press a quick kiss to Eddie’s shoulder, the cloth muffled it, “So, no more make-outs in front of your house when I take you home?” he murmured playfully in Eddie’s ear.

“I would prefer to do that when we’re nowhere near my house, thank you,” Eddie muttered bitterly, ignoring how his heart was starting to hammer in his chest from how close Richie was; his face feeling warm due to the somewhat flirty grin his boyfriend was giving him. 

“Free reign in my car and bedroom then, or anywhere on my property,” Richie promised him with a sultry grin that had Eddie’s face turning redder up to the tips of his ears. He pushed a little closer, “I am sorry though, the trauma of that must have been horrific,” Richie said carefully.

“It was,” Eddie agreed somberly. “Henry and his stupid goons harassed me more than usually about it for a whole fucking year, during our holiday breaks and summer breaks. He pretty much picked on me up until he graduated, but at least now, I can dodge him a little more because he’s out of school.”

“Shocking that someone like him even graduated,” Richie scoffed quietly.

“His dad is the sheriff of Derry and an asshole to him, so I don’t think he had much a choice,” Eddie informed him, to which, Richie mere shrugged at that answer before giving Eddie a hardy look.

“Just because your parent is a monster, it doesn’t mean that you have to grow up and follow in their footsteps,” Richie solemnly replied. He yanked out his sketchbook and flipped open to the page he had working on, which was currently just a woodsy looking area with a small arched bridge and a stream under it, “I have to finish this for art class,” he muttered.

Eddie nodded, he knew what Richie was trying to do; it was obvious in that statement that he held leftover resentment with his own father, Eddie could understand that, due to the relationship he had with his mother.

With a somewhat happy-bitter thought, perhaps he and Richie were a perfect match.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am slow-burning myself in this fic TO DEATH, I so desperately want to post the chapters of horror and mystery aldjfldjf 
> 
> BLEASE, bear with me OTL

The elementary play had soon arrived, Eddie had been Richie’s plus one. Eddie had worn a nice burgundy button-down long-sleeve shirt, deep gray Chinos, and a dark pair of Oxfords, while Richie donned a blazer, layered over a dark blue t-shirt, and paired with some dark jeans, and rebel looking boots.

They were certainly an interesting clashed couple, yet Eddie liked it, because he thought it would have been a little boring if they both dressed similarly.

The two plays had been good, yet dark, which surprised Eddie, as he had clung to Richie’s arm in shock when Georgie had been pulled down into what was supposed to be a storm drain by some kind of monster that made Eddie think of a clown, and how Georgie had escaped that hellish sewer circus with the help of a giant sewer rat that was tired trying of being the gatekeeper to that hellish nightmare.

The props had actually been decently made, majority of that work had been done by Bill, who had also helped Richie with Kimmy’s play, as well. Eddie thought that Kimmy could act well, perhaps even could be part of the theater club in high school if she wanted, as she made a perfect vampire; the morale of her play had been don’t trust the ones with the pretty face or you may end up as a meal.

Again, fucking morbid for an _elementary_ school play, but nonetheless, entertaining and Richie had the proudest smile on his face as he had recorded the whole thing on his phone for his mom to watch.

There had been a loud round of applause and whistles, then they, their friends, and younger siblings, all went to the local diner, Georgie had been happy about how well received the play was, but nothing beat the fact that Kimmy was sitting with him at a booth and sharing her mini corndogs with him.

Bill nudged Richie playfully and gestured over to the two kids sitting across from them, “T-too soon to c-call you m-my br-brother?” he asked teasingly and laughed when Richie had just chuckled at him.

“I honestly wouldn’t mind it, Big Bill,” Richie replied, throwing an arm around Bill’s shoulders and squeezed him in a tight side hug. 

“You did amazing with the papier-mâché props, Bill,” Mike praised when Bill and Richie finished talking. He smiled when Bill was thanking him instead, “No, man, this was all you and Ben! I’m just glad you made use out of all that extra chicken wire; I thought it was all going to rust, because the chickens just stay where they need to now.” 

“Bill put it all nice and pretty on the paper though, without him, it really wouldn’t have been put together so well,” Ben tried to deflect some of the praise, but Beverly was pinching his cheeks and telling him to take some of the damn credit.

“Don’t forget Bev, Ms. Designer over here,” Richie mused and finally got to see Beverly get pink in the face as the rest her friends cheered, as did Kimmy and Georgie.

“They looked good, Bev,” Stan’s smile was gentle.

“You made me look like a true vampire princess,” Kimmy beamed.

“You all did so great,” Eddie told his friends. “And you two,” he looked over to the youngest there, “your performances were amazing! I’ll be surprised if you two don’t awards!”

The two kids blushed and thanked Eddie.

“Mom will love it,” Richie said softly to his sister, giving her a loving smile.

Kimmy looked happy, despite her eyes growing teary.

Which, Georgie quickly offered her a clean napkin and she thanked him.

Smalltalk continued among them all, but Eddie was happy to sit back and listen to his friends, he passed over his chocolate shake to Richie, who hesitated, and Eddie raised an eyebrow at him, “There’s not a single reason why you can’t have a milkshake.”

“Lactose intolerant, babe,” Richie countered easily.

“Yea, me too, which is why it’s soy milk,” Eddie grumbled and took the milkshake away.

Richie could feel Mike’s pensive stare and he snatched the drink back, “Well, since you’re _so_ considerate to share and desperately want my germs, how could I ever refuse?” he swooned against Eddie before sitting back up and sucked down a mouthful of chocolate shake with only a small grimace.

“Good?” Eddie asked, actually surprised that Richie took a drink of it.

“Brain freeze,” Richie whined, tucking his face against Eddie’s neck, snuffling dramatically.

Eddie laughed, “Oh, you’re fine, maybe don’t be a dummy and chug it?” he teased. He brought his burger close to him and took a bite, while Richie grumbled against his neck. When he had looked back up to figure out what Richie was saying, he just so happened to catch a glimpse of Mike, who looked stricken, “Uh, you okay there, Mike?”

That of course brought Bill’s attention from Stan to Mike, “Wha-What’s the m-matter, Mikey?” he asked worriedly.

Mike swallowed uneasily at the dark side-eyed look Richie was giving him from where he still had his face tucked against Eddie’s throat, he cut his gaze over to Kimmy, who looked at him impassively. He cleared his throat, “It’s nothing, sorry, I just thought I had left the furnace going in the barn that’s all. I remembered my cousin had said he’d turn it off when he was done checking over the feed tank.”

He watched as Richie has closed his eyes and remained where he was, and Mike looked back to Eddie, who didn’t look truly convinced, nor did the rest of his friends; he was bad at lying, because he couldn’t ever betray his friends like that.

“C-come get s-some ice-cream w-with me,” Bill said to Mike.

“I’m good, man, thanks though,” Mike dismissed the offer and saw that Bill looked unhappy about that. Mike sighed in defeat, “You’re not fair when you look all sad like that,” Mike muttered and watched Georgie, Ben, and Beverly slide out of the rounded booth seat and Mike got out with Bill.

“Y-you g-guys w-want anything?” Bill asked them.

His friends said no, but Georgie wanted Chocolate Moose Tracks, and Bill smiled, because he was getting the same thing. He beckoned Mike to follow him, which the taller teen did without much protest.

Eddie lightly nudged Richie with his shoulder, “Hey,” he whispered.

“Mm?” Richie hummed, snuggling up to Eddie.

“Hey,” Eddie giggled, “I’m trying to ask you something.”

“Think machine broke,” Richie replied and listened to Eddie laugh. He slowly sat up and saw the way Eddie was gazing at him, all adoringly, and Richie felt a little bit of guilt chewing at him, “What’s your question, Eds?”

Eddie wrinkled his nose at the nickname, “Stop that,” he pouted. “But, seriously, are you and Mike okay? You two barely hang out, if anything, you’re only in the same area when we’re all together.”

Richie could tell that the other three were paying attention, despite pretending that they were invested on their phones, even Kimmy and Georgie were giving them curious looks. Richie shrugged, “I don’t know what you want me to say, babe. I can’t win’em all.”

As much as Eddie wanted to press it, he smartly kept his mouth shut, as Mike and Bill were coming back, he slyly looked at Bill, who looked somewhat troubled, while Mike looked a bit grim.

“Thank you!” Georgie sang as Bill came back over, handing him a waffle cone with two scoops of Chocolate Moose Tracks and took a couple, happy licks, humming excitedly.

Georgie was the only one with ice cream, so whatever Mike had said, Bill must have been really bothered by it, because now Bill was glancing over at him and Richie, more so at Richie than Eddie.

“I-I th-think G-Georgie and I sh-should g-go,” Bill said a few moments later. “G-got th-that chem t-test.”

Beverly frowned, “That’s out of left field, are you sure you’re okay?” she asked and turned her imploring stare to Mike when Bill had merely shrugged at her.

Richie was frowning, he laced his and Eddie’s fingers together, “Maybe I should go,” he murmured only for Eddie to hear.

But Eddie was getting a little pissed off, “What the fuck is going on?” he snapped.

Stan actually reeled a bit from the harsh tone, but he was nodding, “What aren’t you guys telling us?”

Eddie could feel Richie tensing by him and he looked at his boyfriend, “Rich, what is it?” he asked.

“It’s nothing,” Richie muttered as he pulled out his wallet and dropped two twenty bills on the table to cover Kimm’s and Eddie’s dinners. He glanced over to his right to his sister and she slid out of the booth unprompted, “I’m going to head out,” Richie didn’t sound too happy about it, he leaned over to kiss Eddie’s cheek. “I’ll text you later,” he said.

“Richie,” Eddie frowned, but his boyfriend was keeping his eyes downcast as he slid out the booth.

Kimmy said goodbye to Georgie, who pouted, and she giggled, “I’ll see you tomorrow, silly!” she reminded him.

“You’re right, sorry,” Georgie blushed.

Richie murmured for her to come on, he didn’t look back at the table, he certainly couldn’t face Eddie right now. He heard Eddie demanding what the fuck was going on and part of him was afraid of him finding out, he was pissed that Mike was part of an old hunter family and his skin crawled at the possibility of ever having to deal with a hunter.

He liked Eddie, a lot more than Richie thought possible, but this fresh relationship wasn’t worth putting his family in danger, and not to mention, Richie would feel horrible if Eddie got caught in the crossfire; he wouldn’t forgive himself if Eddie got hurt too.

Richie got into his car; Kimmy got into the passenger seat and the both of them were quiet for the majority of the drive home before his sister let out a small sigh.

“You could always tell him yourself, if you’re afraid of that hunter outing you first,” Kimmy said. She frowned at the second thought, “Or…just break up with him if you want to keep him safe.”

“All of those are cliché,” Richie muttered.

“It was just an idea,” Kimmy murmured softly. “I’m sorry that I can’t understand what you’re going through.”

“Don’t be sorry, Kims, I’m glad that you’re normal,” Richie forced himself to smile and glanced over to her before pulling up their driveway. “I’ll just have to think about it. Mike doesn’t seem like a snitch, but it’s obvious that he told Bill something.”

“Which isn’t a good thing,” Kimmy frowned. “I don’t want something to happen to you.”

“And nothing will,” Richie reassured her. “C’mon go inside, you want to show mom your play?”

“Fine,” Kimmy sulked and dashed out of the car and inside; she left her bookbag in the car.

Richie sighed and tilted his head back against the headrest and glared up at the roof of the car before slowly pulling his car into the garage and collected his and Kimmy’s bookbags, he swore when he saw that he had Eddie’s.

He chewed at his bottom lip before sighing heavily. He text his sister that he was taking Eddie’s backpack to him before getting back into his car and started it up, down back down to the gate and headed back into town, speeding just a little bit.

~~~

Eddie was sulking angrily on his bed, after Richie had left, Mike or Bill refused to say anything, Bill said the same excuse as he did earlier, paid for his and Georgie’s food before hastily leaving.

Eddie didn’t linger after that, he was going to pay Richie back, but he left the whole bill on there before angrily leaving, the diner wasn’t far from his house, just a couple blocks away and it occurred to him that he didn’t have his backpack, but he was too upset to text Richie.

He was at least grateful that he didn’t have any homework that was due the next day, the teachers actually were taking it easy on them this week since it was a holiday that they were in school for.

The guilt of stalking away from Stan, Beverly, and Ben though were still nagging at him and he had ignored their text messages, because he didn’t feel like talking to them, or anyone really for that matter, because Mike said something to Bill about Richie, his boyfriend then ditched him, and Mike still won’t tell him what he said.

Eddie flopped face first into his pillow, about to scream when he heard light knocking on his window. He startled at the sound and saw that it was Richie, who was sporting a nervous look, and also lifting Eddie’s backpack into view.

He opened the window and Richie eased the bag onto the ground, “Are you going to stick around?” Eddie asked him and he saw Richie flinch. Eddie let out an annoyed scoff, “Why are you avoiding me now?”

“It’s not because of you,” Richie sighed and saw that Eddie was glaring at him now with his arms crossed over his chest. 

“Then _what_ is it? God, I feel like I’m a fucking broken record!” Eddie exclaimed. “Mike won’t say shit, Bill won’t either! He left right after you and no one else seems to know what the fuck the deal is!”

Richie winced at how exasperated Eddie was and all he could do was giving him an apologetic look, “I’m sorry, but I can’t linger, Kimmy is in the car,” he lied and saw that Eddie was giving him a stern look.

“Fine,” Eddie gritted out.

“I promise to tell you, Eddie…just not right now, okay?” Richie pleaded. He let out a strained laugh, “I don’t even know _where_ to start the conversation, so just give me some time.”

“Is it _that_ bad?” Eddie asked him, slightly worried.

Richie gave a hesitant shrug, “Just depends who you’re asking,” he muttered. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said and quickly left.

Eddie watched him scale off the roof with his heart in his throat, worried that one day that Richie was going to break his neck one day. He saw Richie glance back at him before he got in his car and drove away and Eddie sighed miserably as he closed his bedroom window.

God, he was dreading tomorrow.

~~~

Richie didn’t come to school until it was lunch time, Eddie watched him stand hesitantly in the hall and Eddie beckoned him over, which Richie looked like he was going to pretend that he didn’t see Eddie waving him over, but the shorter boy ended up winning that round.

Eddie hated how uncomfortable Richie looked and how he sat stiff as a board. He didn’t know how to comfort Richie other than holding his hand that pretty much felt unmalleable in his own, “Bill has something to say,” he murmured.

Richie flicked his gaze over to Bill, who was getting a stern look from Beverly, and he frowned, “Bill doesn’t have to say anything if he doesn’t want to. We’re not fucking 12.”

“I-I d-don’t b-believe Mikey,” Bill started off and inhaled slowly and exhaled to help gather his thoughts and words together. “When I-I took Georgie h-home, I t-talked t-to Mike again. I-It’s j-j-just crazy, i-i-is it a prank? I a-am s-sorry though, i-if I h-hurt your f-feelings.”

“No harm no foul,” Richie made a gesture of cleaning his hands. Richie drummed his free hand’s fingers nervously before looking over at Eddie for reassurance before looking back at Bill, “People just like to say stuff about my family and I. We’re…sort of outcasts, we kept to ourselves up until my father’s passing in the spring. Leaving the house to come join the public had been my sister’s idea; she didn’t want stay cooped up in the house anymore.”

Eddie nodded encouragingly, stroking his thumb soothingly across the side of Richie’s index finger and heard Richie shakily exhale, blinking a few times, and heard him try to force himself to calm down. “Richie, it’s okay,” he soothed softly.

“I’m fine,” Richie said and then looked back to Bill. “My mom hasn’t been the same since my dad died, she’s very sick and it’s just been really fucking difficult to deal with.”

Bill looked guilty, “Mikey’s u-uncle is k-kind of…u-unwell r-r-right now.”

“I get why Mike would believe him, because the man raised him, didn’t he?” Richie questioned and saw Bill nod at him. “Though, I’m not exactly sure what Mr. Hanlon was saying about my family, but it’s probably not true.”

“I s-sure h-hope not,” Bill’s face was grim, but didn’t say anything further than that.

It was obvious the rest of their friends wanted to know what was exactly said, but it was clear that Bill wasn’t going to say anything and neither was Richie, so while it was annoying to be left out of the loop, no one pressed the issue.

Lunch was seemingly peaceful after that and Eddie let Richie feed him curly fries and listened to his boyfriend and Stan talk about their science presentation that was due by next Wednesday and chattered on before Bill cut in smoothly.

“G-Georgie will g-give m-me the c-cold sh-shoulder if I-I’m wrong, b-but a-are you still t-taking K-Kimmy tr-trick-or-treating?” Bill asked Richie.

“Sure am, 6 PM, right?” Richie confirmed questioningly and saw Bill nod. “Sweet, I’ll meet you at the elementary school, apparently there’s some haunted house and games set up in the gym.”

“Ooh, we’ll have to check those out!” Beverly smiled. “Are you Losers dressing up?”

“Are you gonna dress up for me?” Richie cooed at Eddie and chuckled when Eddie scoffed at him. “Will you be the Princess Peach to my Bowser?”

“In your dreams, furry,” Eddie wrinkled his nose and Richie laughed. “You should go as a vampire,” he muttered when he was reminded when Richie laughed how it looked like Richie had little fangs.

Richie’s grin was still present, “_I vant to suck yer blaad!_” he faked hissed.

“We’re done, I’m breaking up with you,” Eddie declared turned his head the other direction.

Beverly was giggling at them, “Trouble on haunted paradise island?”

“It’s fine, Eddie can’t handle fun; it’s not in his vocabulary,” Richie sniffed and smiled cutely when Eddie whipped back around to give him an evil glare. “But I won’t be dressed up as a vampire; I’ve never had the Halloween experience, but to be truthful, I don’t think I’ll dress up, so maybe next year.”

Ben looked bewildered, “You really have never left your home, have you?” he gawked.

Richie shook his head, “I didn’t need to.”

“And I thought my mom was bad,” Eddie muttered.

“They…had some issues and there was stuffing going on, where they felt like they had to be overprotective with us,” Richie defended his parents, “I just didn’t need anything outside my home. My sister and I had private teachers, I had activity classes like music and art, I have a shit ton of land to get lost on too. I, myself, never saw a reason to leave home, and my parents were fine with that. When I finish my high school education, they understood that I wanted to go to college, and were accepting about me continuing my secondary education.”

“What, clown school for your comedy stuff?” Eddie blinked. He saw Richie frown at that, “Shit, sorry that was meaner than I intended,” he apologized.

“I like making people laugh, I don’t know, if not a career, maybe a fun side job,” Richie shrugged. He saw that Eddie still had a guilty look on his face and Richie kissed his cheek, “_Really_, it’s okay,” he promised.

“You still have the remainder of this year and next year to get it all figured out,” Stan reminded him. “It doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but you’d be surprised how your opinion may change drastically.”

“And there’s that too,” Richie agreed. “Besides, maybe I’ll want to start a band or something,” he mused at the idea of it.

Eddie rolled his eyes, but hated the fact that the idea of it deeply intrigued him.

“Hmm?” Richie’s lips curled up in a teasing smirk, “there wasn’t much protest about that, now was there, Eddie-Spaghetti?”

“Oh, be quiet,” Eddie grumbled and glared at his friends when he heard them snickering at him. It was hard to stay in his annoyed mood when Richie was being sweet to him by peeling his orange and parting it for him, before offering it to him like a peace offering.

Eddie huffed quietly after eating a couple slices of the freshly peeled orange, “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Richie practically preened and lightly squeezed at Eddie’s knee.

~~~

It was the end of the day and Eddie thought he was going to rip his hair out, because his mom had blown up his phone in his last class, saying that it was too cold out for him to go out that night with his friends and that he needed to come home.

Richie had tried to distract Eddie from it all, but by the time the bell rung, he could tell that Eddie was still upset about the whole thing and Richie was frowning unhappily.

“I just won’t go home,” Eddie said, slamming his locker door shut angrily.

Richie was leaning against the locker closest to Eddie’s, “I don’t want you to get in trouble or grounded,” he fretted. “But I won’t lie, it’s pretty hot watching you get all rebellious against your mom,” he smirked.

“Shut up and make out with me in your car,” Eddie blushed; Richie had some strong talent in the distraction agency involving his mouth. It was almost scary when Richie gave him a sharp grin; Eddie really felt small under Richie’s gaze sometimes, but with him, it wasn’t a bad feeling.

Luckily for them, Kimmy had said that she was going to help her teachers set up the gymnasium for the Halloween events in the school, so Richie could take the time that he wanted with Eddie.

The majority of the parking lot was empty, the cars that remained were staff or students who had after school activities and Richie still gave a final glance around to make sure that no one was watching or would disturb them before getting in his backseats.

“Are you sure you can even fit back here, you giraffe?” Eddie teased as he slid in the seat after throwing his bookbag onto the floor of the car and he still couldn’t help but feel a bit jittery, his stomach was filled with nerves, his knees shook somewhat and he was annoyed that he probably should have eaten a mint.

Richie snickered as he slid into the backseat and smoothly shut the door and immediately pinned Eddie down against the seats, who was giggling up at him, “What?” he mused as he leaned to kiss Eddie.

“Nothing,” Eddie smiled, carding his fingers through Richie’s thick curls.

Richie snickered a little when they pulled back from their kiss, “Perhaps I should dress up this year, because it’s going to look like a vampire attacked you.”

As much as Eddie knew he should have said no, because without a doubt, his mother would ground him for the rest of forever, an exhilarated shiver raced up his spine and Eddie gave Richie a challenging look, “Yea?” he asked and watched the way those dark eyes practically sparkled with mischief.

“Yea,” Richie replied with such certainty, followed up with a sharp grin.

~~~

“These aren’t _love-bites_, Richie!” Eddie shrilled as Beverly gently blended on foundation onto Eddie’s neck. He glowered at his boyfriend so angrily that Richie at least looked a little frightened, “You went full-on predator on me!”

“I did warn you though,” Richie replied and winced when he saw the angry blush creep higher up Eddie’s face.

The couple, plus their friend, were in Beverly’s bathroom, where she was working her magic on Eddie’s skin to cover up the hickeys from some lifted foundation from the drugstore that was owned by that creepy pharmacist.

Fortunately, Beverly’s father wasn’t home, so she could help them at her place and while it was a tense situation, she was still giggling nonetheless, because while she did feel bad for Eddie, it was still funny listening to him and Richie bicker.

“So that’s why you two vanished after school?” Beverly asked, pulling back to view her handywork. She practically had a smirk on her face from how red Eddie’s face got and she looked back at Richie, who had a smug look on his face.

“Oh, shush, Beverly,” Eddie muttered and grimaced when she pinched his cheek.

Richie smiled adoringly at Eddie, “I’m sorry, but I promise they won’t remain there forever,” he apologized.

“Long enough for me to get caught and my mom to go apeshit,” Eddie stressed.

“Well, then I’ll just visit you as Romeo did to Juliet,” Richie swooned against Eddie, who scoffed at him. “What, I think it would be nice!”

“You’re so cheesy,” Beverly giggled.

“And, I am totally not knifing myself in the chest, should you bring it up,” Eddie rolled his eyes and heard Richie laugh. He grunted in discomfort when his lanky boyfriend came over and dramatically draped the majority of his weight onto Eddie, “Quit it!”

“_Oh, Death, that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath,_” Richie quoted, squeezing his arms around Eddie, who wriggled in his hold, “_hath had no power yet upon thy beauty! Thou art no conquered, beauty’s ensign yet!” _he crowed and listened to Eddie whine at him to be quiet as Beverly was muffling her laughter with one hand as she had her other arm wrapped around her middle.

Eddie gasped as he was suddenly dipped and he gazed up into Richie’s dark eyes that just seemed to be depthless, and he hated that he suddenly felt like a lovesick Juliet; he felt as if Richie could have held him like this forever, even if his arms weren’t as wiry as Mike’s.

“_Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks?_” Richie murmured softly, eyes tracing where Eddie’s blush slowly colored his tanned skin, “_And Death’s pale flag is not advanced there!”_

“Richie, please,” Eddie sulked, just letting himself get held there, despite feeling off-centered. He rolled his eyes when Richie pulled them both back up and watched Richie put the back of his hand to his forehead.

“_Here’s to my love! O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick, thus with a kiss, I die!_” Richie finished and quickly snatched Eddie back close and kissed his boyfriend, who’s patience were well thinned. 

Beverly applauded him, “You should totally be in theater club,” she mused.

“Nah, I’m not one for the dramatics,” Richie replied, he had his arms wrapped loosely around Eddie, who looked up at him with a disbelieving scowl.

“Sure you aren’t,” Beverly drawled. She still had a hue to her cheeks from where she had been laughing at the whole scene and she gave Eddie a wink; she clearly loved the dynamic character that Richie was.

Eddie relaxed a little; he knew that Richie had been accepted as Eddie’s boyfriend by their friends, but it was these little reminders that set Eddie as ease, because Richie wasn’t just his boyfriend, he was also part of the Losers and he fit in perfectly with them. He imagined that Richie honestly could have fit in with any of the kids at their school, but Richie had chosen them over any other popular group of kids; Eddie got see who Richie was and not only that, Richie only had eyes for him.

“Did I make you swoon?” Richie asked playfully when Eddie had just been gazing up at him with a soft look on his face for a couple minutes.

“You wish,” Eddie whispered, but the fond expression was still on his face.

Beverly clapped her hands together once, “Okay, lovers, enough with the sap, save that for February! It’s spooky time, boys!” she reminded.

Eddie sort of selfishly wished that he and Richie could have remained in their little bubble despite it being in Beverly’s bathroom and when he glanced up at Richie, he could see the nonchalant expression on Richie’s face was somewhat forced; it warmed him to see that Richie was feeling the same way.

With a respectful amount of enthusiasm, the couple happily followed after her to go to Bill’s to get ready, Beverly had her costume packed in a pastel purple tote and brought some snacks and with one last look around her room, Beverly turned away and smiled brightly.

“Let’s get those kids on a sugar high.”

“At least you won’t have to deal with aftermath of it all…”

“Stop whining Richie, or I may actually feel bad if we weren’t about to deal with a drunk version of you tomorrow night.”

“Yes, ma’am!”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're hitting double digits for chapters, aaayyyyyyy!!!!

Trick-or-Treating with the kids hadn’t been horrible, Eddie actually enjoyed his time and slightly envied Bill and Richie because not only did they have siblings, they both had close relationships with them.

Eddie had wondered if either of them had also went costume shopping with the younger kids, he wondered if Bill helped Georgie get his zombie costume put together, and if Richie or his mom helped Kimmy with her witch makeup.

It was nice seeing Richie so relaxed though, when most of the time his boyfriend seemed to be on edge, which Eddie didn’t even know why, maybe it was because Richie overheard Bill and Beverly talking about the Halloween party that was happening the next night.

“We don’t have to go,” Eddie said when Kimmy, Georgie, Beverly, and Bill had gone to another house. Beverly had merely painted whiskers on her face and put cat ears on, but it was still cute, and Bill was dressed like a scarecrow, which was fitting because he was still lanky and tall, about the same height as Richie.

“Go where?” Richie asked, angling his head down to look at Eddie.

“To the party, if you’re uncomfortable, we don’t have to go,” Eddie shrugged nonchalantly; he really didn’t care if they went or not, but he wasn’t eager to go back home and deal with his control freak of a mother.

Richie shook his head, “I’m not uncomfortable at the idea of being around a large group of teenagers, getting drunk on cheap alcoholic punch and smoking pot, Eds,” he mused.

“You sure? Because we really don’t have to go,” Eddie replied. “I’m not crazy about that scene anyway.”

“You know the rest of your friends will protest, maybe not Stan or Ben, but I know the others were looking forward to it,” Richie reminded him. “I also don’t want them to get ideas that I’m trying to take you away from them.”

“You worry too much,” Eddie sighed.

“That’s funny coming from you,” Richie snarked, but there was no heat to it.

Eddie bit his tongue from cursing at him because the younger kids came back and Bill and Beverly were looking at the both of them curiously; he merely looped his arm with Richie’s and hauled him away.

“You should have dressed up,” Kimmy said to her brother. “Maybe you’d stop being such a sourpuss,” she said as she put a sucker in her mouth.

“Oh, I’ll be a sourpuss if you end up getting poisoned because you didn’t let me or mom check your candy first,” Richie said warningly.

Kimmy just rolled her eyes at him and skipped ahead to be with Georgie and Bill.

“She’s going to be an absolute nightmare when she becomes a teenager,” Richie groaned unhappily at the sheer image of it. Boyfriends or girlfriends, makeup, clothes and shoes galore, _yeesh_, Richie wasn’t looking forward to it and he really hoped that even if all that stuff came with being a teenager, it wouldn’t be too bad.

“I don’t think she’ll be _that_ bad” Eddie mused.

Richie made a hopeful sound.

The group made it to Ben’s house, where the rest of the Losers were, Ben had been asked by his mom to help pass out candy, Stan and Mike had stayed as well, thanks to the magic of Ben’s puppy eyes.

Then, once they were there, Ben was free of his candy passing out duties and they all could regroup. Ben had happily given Kimmy and Georgie two, big handfuls of candy and gave Beverly candy too and a kiss on the cheek.

“What, no same treatment for us too?” Richie sulked. He was surprised when Ben actually marched up to Richie, the boy wasn’t as tall as Richie yet, but taller than Eddie, without a doubt he’d be hitting the six-footer mark soon, and shoved candy into his jeans pocket.

Eddie gawked when Ben landed a wet smacker on his boyfriend’s cheek next, “Hey!” he jokingly scowled and latched himself to Richie’s arm possessively. “You’ve got your own!”

Ben laughed and mockingly flinched away when Eddie acted like he was going to kick him, “Maybe get your man a scarf, Eddie, it was like kissing a marble statue,” he teased.

“But the _best_ marble statue, right?” Richie asked him suggestively, winking.

“Sure, if I was ever into that,” Ben shrugged and laughed when Richie said he’d take what he could get. 

Richie still wrapped Eddie into his arms, exaggeratedly kissing his cheeks and forehead, “You’re still my only one for six days of the week; Ben only takes my Thursdays,” he said sincerely and muffled his laughter against Eddie’s neck when his boyfriend pinched his side.

“Still can’t believe you’re not ticklish,” Eddie muttered as he fruitlessly dug his fingers into Richie’s sides, trying to get a reaction out of him.

“Richie, stop being gross and take me out for candy hunting, jerk!” Kimmy shouted, throwing a Tootsie pop at him, which he effortlessly caught and immediately unwrapped it and put into his mouth and Kimmy scowled at him.

Richie just looked smug.

Georgie was impatiently tugging at Bill’s jumper, “Yea, c’mon, let’s go!” he pleaded to his big brother and Bill easily relented. He cheered and started to drag his brother back to the sidewalk and Bill told them all to hurry up and Beverly and Ben were practically running to keep up with Kimmy.

“Kimmy, stay on the sidewalk!” Richie called and watched her jump back onto the raised concrete and slow down so Beverly and Ben could catch up with her. He sighed in quiet annoyance as he flung an arm around Eddie’s shoulders, keeping a slow stride; he didn’t miss the way Mike had glanced over to them before jogging to catch up with Bill. He didn’t have time to dwell on it as Stan joined him and Eddie, “Sup, Staniel?”

Stan wrinkled his nose, “Please don’t call me that.”

“The sacrifice you had to make when becoming my friend, sorry, no takebacks,” Richie winked and saw Stan roll his eyes; he’d bet that Eddie was doing the same thing.

“Guess it could have been worse,” Stan sighed to him. 

~~~

They wrapped up trick-or-treating about an hour later, Richie was carrying Kimmy on his back, since his sister was tuckered out, and Eddie, being the softie Richie knew he was, was carrying her heavy sack of candy.

“Momma is never gonna let me eat all that,” Kimmy mumbled against Richie’s shoulder.

Richie had turned his head to the side a bit to answer her, “Not all in one night, you’ll for real get sick,” he mused and heard Kimmy huff. “Did you have fun though?”

“So much fun!” Kimmy exclaimed happily; she looped her arms over Richie’s shoulders. “We should have left home forever ago,” she whined. “I missed a lot of candy!”

Richie saw Eddie looking at her sadly and he glanced at his boyfriend, giving him a reassuring smile before giving his attention back to his little sister, “Well, now we have time to make up for it and now you have all sorts of friends you can do holiday stuff with.”

“I guess,” Kimmy pouted, still upset that she could have been going trick-or-treating when she had been younger. She giggled when Richie blew a raspberry into her arm and she jerked her arm back, “You’re gross!”

“Boys are gross,” Richie agreed.

“But you have a boyfriend,” Kimmy smartly reminded him.

“Eddie is the exception,” Richie replied and heard Kimmy scoff. “What? You like Eddie too, don’t you?”

“I do like Eddie,” Kimmy smiled and looked over to the said boy, who was starting to blush from the attention. “Cute, cute, cute!” she chirped.

Eddie groaned, “Don’t listen to your brother,” he pleaded.

“Richie used to be so boring and so sad, but now he’s not annoying anymore, so I guess I’ll listen to you,” Kimmy shrugged. She felt how Richie’s shoulders tensed and she felt a little bad and murmured an apology, low enough that no else heard but her brother.

“S’all good, Kims,” Richie replied gently.

Bill took Georgie home, Mike went with him, and the rest of the group went with Richie, all them were curious to see the manor, and Richie wasn’t going to be rude and only have Eddie over.

Needless to say, the rest were awestruck and Eddie was a bit prideful because he was already familiar with the house, Richie had still told them that Eddie thought he literally had a butler named Alfred when Eddie had first came over.

Ben was instantly intrigued with the massive book shelves and read the spines of the books, some were in different languages and he asked Richie he knew them too.

“Mm, only Spanish and French,” Richie replied and saw that Eddie looked surprised. “What? My dad had family in France and we did go to Spain a lot too.”

Beverly looked up at the oil canvas that had the man of the house carefully painted on its surface, Richie only had a few matching features of his father, other than the curls that it looked like his father tried to tame his own brown curls back, they shared the same dark eyes and his high cheekbones were still easy to see, even if the groomed beard the man had obstructed his cheeks and strong jaw; there was a slight presence in the way he held himself, like he was meant to be respected, but she couldn’t pick up arrogance or cruelty there.

When she looked at the family portrait, which obviously was old, as Richie looked like a little kid around Kimmy’s age now, but Beverly concluded that both of the Tozier siblings looked more like their mother, despite Kimmy having her father’s hair color, and she couldn’t lie, they were all very easy on the eyes.

“That painting is pretty old,” Richie stated the obvious, he was at least seven in that paining and Kimmy was just an infant, swaddled up in a rich purple baby blanket, cradled in his mother’s arms.

“No shit, Sherlock,” Beverly teased. She still gazed up at the family painting, “I used to see these in movies, I didn’t know families actually did this sort of thing,” she said. “I thought it was more for old generations, you know, when cameras didn’t exist?”

Richie laughed, “My dad…he was pretty old fashioned,” he replied. He looked away and saw that Eddie and Stan were sat together on a loveseat, talking quietly to each other and his gaze cut over to Ben, who was now looked at framed maps.

“Do you miss him?” Beverly asked him gently, she saw the way Richie’s eyes trailed up to the painting and saw something in his dark eyes; it wasn’t kind. She thought the room had chilled somewhat when he looked down at her, despite Richie’s face remaining stoic, there was just something off-putting about it.

“I don’t know if I knew him enough to miss his presence,” Richie said, he felt Eddie come up to his other side, standing next to him quietly and Richie held his hand. “I’ll admit I miss the idea of him, but not anymore,” Richie said, “there are things that he’s left behind that I cannot fix,” his gaze cut to the family portrait again. “And while I don’t hate him, I cannot forgive him,” he whispered.

Beverly could practically feel the anguish in Richie’s voice as if he were touching her with the raw feeling to her bare skin; she followed his gaze and while she did not know which family member he was looking at, judging by the grief reflected in his eyes, he most certainly was not looking at his father.

Eddie had curled his fingers into Richie’s sleeve, looking up at him sadly.

“I get that,” Beverly finally said after feeling like she could speak again. She saw Richie’s eyes trail down to her wrists, which she shyly hid behind her back, she had taken off her jacket, and while the bruises around her wrists were faded to a lighter color, they still lingered there.

“He was a monster, but never in that sense, I think I would have killed him if he ever put his hands on my mother or my sister,” Richie whispered, not wanting to draw attention.

Beverly gave him a sad smile, “Doesn’t matter, there was still neglect done to you and your family. There is still lasting trauma even though he never put his hands on you and you feel free of him, right?” she asked Richie.

Richie gave a hesitant nod.

“Then he was the cruel keeper that gated you out of proper happiness,” Beverly said and looked over to Eddie too, who ducked his head, he hated to think of his mother as the gatekeeper to his own happiness, but instead of making sure he was happy, she kept him away from it.

There was a deeply somber silence that overtook the three, Ben and Stan noticed, but were too afraid to say anything, but they didn’t have to make that decision as they saw Richie’s head perk up and he glanced behind him.

They looked too and saw a tall, slender woman standing in the archway of the study.

“Richie, would your friends like anything?” Mrs. Tozier asked her son. “I made my Halloween cookies, if they want anything, they best hurry,” she smiled gently, “Kimmy is snatching them up like candy!”

“That little girl has raided the town of its candy and now she’s stealing cookies? The fiend,” Richie fondly rolled his eyes. “C’mon, my mom makes the best cookies, you’ll definitely be sad if you missed out.”

“We’ll have to get some for Bill and Mike too,” Eddie spoke up and heard Richie promise that he’d save them some. 

The group walked into the kitchen and Richie swore he saw Ben practically swoon, mumbling something about the spacious and beautiful architecture of the kitchen. 

Sure enough, Kimmy had taken four cookies, but Maggie had made two-dozen so the group, minus Richie, had scooped up two cookies and Richie bagged two cookies each for Bill and Mike.

Maggie had moved to stand by her son, giving him a hug and thanking him for taking Kimmy out, “She had such a wonderful time, she told me about all the scary costumes she saw and the decorations,” she sounded extremely happy that her daughter had so much fun.

“It was loads of fun, Ma,” Richie agreed, wincing a bit when she pushed back his curly fringe, but it wasn’t like he had anywhere to be, so he only sulked for a little bit because he had fixed his hair up a bit.

“Did you or Eddie get candy?” Maggie asked, looking her son before to Eddie.

“Just what Ben shoved into my pants,” Richie replied and dug out a regular sized Snickers bar and two fun-sized Twix bars and put them on the kitchen table, because without a doubt, his candy fiend sister would snatch them up. He heard his mother’s surprised laugh, “I stole Bev’s man.”

“You wish,” Ben scoffed, but the sweet look on his face returned when he thanked Maggie for the delicious cookies.

“We’re going to take off, Mom,” Richie said when it looked like his friends got their fill on cookies, snacks, and drinks. 

“Oh?” Maggie questioned as she was carefully storing the rest of the treats away.

“I’m sure they want to go relax after trick-or-treating, so I’m going to take them home,” Richie told his mom. “Also, gotta make Mrs. K swoon so I can see her lovely son again,” he kissed Eddie on the cheek.

Maggie gave them an endearing smile, “Just be back home before ten,” she replied. She gave each of Richie’s friend snack bags before they left and wished them all a goodnight.

With that, everyone got into Richie’s jeep, which wasn’t a tight squeeze as it had been in his other car, and Stan was mystified to watch the horses gallop through the field until he couldn’t see them over the hill anymore.

“Richie will take you out to feed them, I bet,” Eddie said from his spot in the passenger seat.

Richie glanced at Stan in the rearview mirror, “Took Eds out there, he’s not allergic,” he teased.

“Shut up! It’s hay I breakout in rashes with,” Eddie scowled.

“Uh-huh,” Richie drawled. “Bet your mom is just fucking with you about that too.”

Eddie scowled and folded his arms.

Ben and Beverly just teased Richie about being in the doghouse.

Richie dropped everyone off, Stan first, then Ben so Beverly could walk him to his front door and kiss him goodnight, then Beverly, which Richie waited until she waved to them from her bedroom window, and lastly, his boyfriend.

Eddie let out a surprised gasp when Richie yanked him close, one arm winding around Eddie’s waist as he kissed him and Eddie’s eyes fluttered shut as he cupped Richie’s face with his hands. He felt himself getting warm and flustered when Richie’s tongue swept against his own and his soft groan was muffled somewhat as Richie’s fingers kneaded at Eddie’s right hip.

Richie pulled back with a sharp gasp when he accidently nipped too sharply at Eddie’s bottom lip, which made him bleed, “Sorry,” he apologized meekly, running his tongue over his own bottom lip.

Eddie felt a somewhat disgusting shiver tear through him when he realized that Richie may have unknowingly lapped up the blood from his lip, “It’s fine, doesn’t hurt,” he responded. He grabbed a tissue from his fanny pack and pushed down the sun visor to look at his reflection to properly clean up his lip, “Wish you could come in,” Eddie muttered.

“I could always sneak in,” Richie said lightly.

Eddie glanced at the digital clock in the dashboard, it was almost 9, “You have to be home too and I know my mom will at least be harassing me about my whereabouts for at least an hour,” he sighed unhappily.

“Mm, raincheck then,” Richie replied and saw Eddie smile before wincing as it pulled on his small wound and quickly covered it with tissue again. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he murmured, eyes shutting when Richie kissed his cheek.

“See you,” Richie said gently and watched Eddie head inside before driving back home.

Jesus, he was so _fucked._


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a small warning about underage drinking.
> 
> Chapter 13 is gonna be the real deal, I know I haven't posted chapter 12 yet, but I'M SO EXCITED TO POST IT!!!!

Richie hoped that he wasn’t openly expressing that he was dreading the party tonight, there was just an unsettling itch under his skin and he knew why he was feeling this way; it didn’t help that he kept subconsciously licking his lips, trying to chase after a lingering flavor that wasn’t there anymore.

“If you keep licking your lips, you’ll chap them,” Eddie said quietly, since they were both in study hall. He tried to stealthily unzip his fanny pack, but still their teacher shot him a look over her book and Eddie barely fought back a glare. He grabbed his strawberry flavored Chapstick and passed the small tube over to his boyfriend, “Use it, dummy,” he muttered.

“Won’t this make me want to lick my lips more?” Richie asked him, an amused grin slid on his lips and let Eddie snatch it back before handing him a plain one and Richie rolled his eyes before applying it and handing that one back to Eddie too. He still thanked him before glancing down at his sketchpad; he didn’t have any homework to work on so he was doodling absentmindedly as Eddie was reviewing for a quiz in his chemistry class that was going to be on Monday.

Richie grumbled about the art-block before putting his journal away and took out a comic book, not that he could really focus on that either, his fingers drummed noisily until Eddie snatched his hand into his own and held it under his desk, since they had pulled their tables together again and it was easier to hide.

Eddie was looking over at him, worriedly of course and was about to ask if he was all right before Richie had untangled himself from Eddie’s hand and Eddie watched with confusion as Richie basically hurried out of his seat with his passbook; bathroom, maybe.

“Mr. Tozier, there are only 15 minutes left of class, surely it can wait,” Ms. Hammond said curtly.

“Sure, if you want me to piss in the trashcan instead,” Richie practically gritted out.

There was a ripple of laughter.

“Quiet,” Ms. Hammond snapped. She scribbled her initials into the passbook and grunted at him to hurry up before eyeing each of her students before going back to her book.

Eddie watched Richie leave the class room; he had a feeling Richie wasn’t coming back.

Well, perhaps Eddie should get his Masters in the studies of Richard Wentworth Tozier, because he seemed to be fairly good at studying him, because the bell had rung, but Richie didn’t come back.

Eddie huffed to himself as he zipped Richie’s bag shut after carefully sliding his comic book between the two textbooks, folders, and journals in there before hefting it onto his shoulder with a grunt. 

Richie never took his things home, so Eddie shuffled towards Richie’s locker, almost bumping into Bill, who snagged up Richie’s heavy bag from his shoulder, “Thanks,” Eddie breathed in relief.

Bill nodded, but his eyebrows were furrowed as he glanced around the mass of school kids scrambling to get the fuck out of the school building, “W-where’s Rich?” he asked.

“I think he ditched,” Eddie sighed as they walked down the hall towards Richie’s locker. He put in the combination of Richie’s locker and stepped aside to let Bill drop the bag inside, “He was acting really weird.”

“W-weird?” Bill echoed.

“I think he’s too nervous to tell us that he doesn’t want to go to the party tonight, which is fine, I don’t really want to go either,” Eddie replied. He saw that Bill looked a little sad by that, “B-but we could still go! Just for a little bit!”

“D-don’t go, i-if you d-don’t want t-t-to go,” Bill shrugged. He was about to say something else when Richie appeared by their side, looking a little frazzled needless to say and his eyes looked darker than usual.

“Hey, I gotta go get Kims, I can’t take you home, but are you okay to ride with Bill or someone else?” Richie basically said in one breath.

Eddie blinked a couple times, “Uh, yea, sure?”

“Cool, see you tonight, I’ll meet you there at the party,” Richie was jittery. He stepped forward, about to kiss Eddie, but then immediately backtracked and waved goodbye to the both of them before basically running away.

“What the fuck was that about?” came Beverly’s voice.

Eddie turned, saw her, Ben, and Stan coming up behind them. He shrugged helplessly, “I think he’s just nervous.”

“Richie fucking Tozier, _nervous_?” Beverly scoffed at the mere idea of it.

Stan frowned, “It looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown.”

Eddie felt really bad, but he knew he didn’t stand a chance of trying to catch up; Richie was weirdly quick. He felt his shoulders slump a bit, “Well, at least we’ll see him tonight.”

The _hopefully_ was implied.

Ben gave him a kind smile, “Even if he can’t make it, I’m sure you’ll still have fun tonight!”

Eddie doubted it, but he agreed anyway.

So, Eddie was getting a little rebellious with his mother; he didn’t go home, he went to Bill’s to get ready, he had left some clothes there one time in case of an emergency and luckily, he had left a sweater there that he could layer over his T-Shirt, since he didn’t want to wear his giant puffy jacket.

Then after that, the gang gathered at Bill’s, minus Richie. Everyone crowded upstairs to hangout in Bill’s room, playing video games and card games until it was time to go, Georgie had asked to come, but Bill said that he’d take him out for ice cream Saturday and to swear not to say anything to their parents about the party.

Georgie promised with the most serious look on his kid face.

When it was time to go, Eddie checked his phone and saw that Richie had text him that he was coming, he was just heading over to the farm, since Bill’s house was in the opposite direction of the field party.

Eddie was a bit miffed, but let it slide, because maybe Richie just needed some space to calm down, because Eddie was the same way; he didn’t want people around him during those moments.

When Bill had finished making a PB&J sandwich for his brother and sliced up an apple, Bill told him to not to answer the door for anyone and to stay inside until their mom got home, since she was usually home before their dad.

Then he and the other Losers piled up in Bill’s truck, which meant two in the main cabin with Bill and the other three had to ride in the bed of the truck, Eddie, of course, got to sit on the inside and Beverly sat between them, while Mike, Stan, and Ben rode in the bed of the truck.

Bill had been nice to layer a few blankets to act a shield to buffer some of the cold of the metal and if they bounced, their landing wouldn’t be too rough on them.

The field hadn’t been that far away, Mike giving directions when he stuck his head in the small sliding window that was behind Beverly; it was pretty much nearby Mike’s farm, which was just further down the road and a turn right, versus a left turn, so Bill knew where he was going after that.

Sure enough, when they showed up, there was already a handful of cars, a decent sized bonfire going, and people were already trying to roast marshmallows, or heading to the old barn, but Eddie was eager to stand near the fire and get warm, because even in the cabin of the truck he had been shivering.

He had taken two steps out before arms were around him and Eddie was yanked back against a solid chest and Eddie glanced up, smiling when Richie’s face came into view, “Hi, weirdo,” he mused.

“Very much weird indeed, my good fellow,” Richie replied. He did look apologetic, “Sorry for bailing out on you,” he said in his normal voice. “Got freaked out and then Kimmy text me.”

“No worries, glad you could make it, because it would suck to watch all these couples make out with each other and not have my own boyfriend here,” Eddie replied and heard Richie laugh.

“Ooh, Mr. Kaspbrak, getting brave here?” Richie asked him.

“Well, it seems that the majority of the school knows we’re dating and neither of us have gotten death threats, so I’m guessing it’s okay,” Eddie told him. 

“You two can suck face later, drinks!” Beverly cheered, gesturing to the shoddy barn that was spruced up with orange and purple fairy-lights and fake candles, it looked like someone had also brought in a disco-ball that beamed different colors along the barn walls as it spun slowly.

The gang went inside and the music in there was different from what was playing outside by the bonfire; there were already a bunch of kids dancing, holding solo cups of probably cheap alcohol and fruit punch, but most stood on the sidelines, holding their drinks and talking close with friends or dates.

Bill spotted the punch table and was pouring drinks out for everyone, Stan and Eddie were reluctant, as everyone else started to slam back their drinks, Eddie was surprised that Mike and Ben went it with so easily.

Eddie didn’t think he should have been so afraid, because he was out at a party with a bunch of school kids and his best friends and his boyfriend, so Eddie decided that he should say fuck it and have fun.

He chugged his drink, edged on by Richie’s cheering.

Before Eddie knew it, one drink became four and while he wasn’t plastered, he was feeling good; he danced and had fun with Beverly before dragging Richie away from his conversation with some other student, before dragging him in with the rest of their friends and he had never had so much fun before! 

Richie had cut him off from more than four drinks, which the 1-percent that wasn’t boggled with alcohol was thanking his boyfriend, because that meant that he was at least sober enough to make-out with said boyfriend until it felt like his lungs were going to collapse.

Eddie blearily realized that he and Richie were alone for the most part, they were on the other side of the gate in the barn between a giant bale of hay and the wall of the barn, he was mushed up against the wall, Richie was practically supporting his weight, since Eddie had his legs around Richie’s waist. He had his fingers ensnared in those curly, dark locks of hair as he kissed Richie vigorously, a soft whine escaped through loose lips when Richie had trailed his lips to the underside of Eddie’s jaw to press cool kisses to his overheated neck.

“Should get you home,” Richie murmured when he had come back up to Eddie’s ear, teeth briefly nipping at his earlobe and he felt Eddie shiver from it. He felt his boyfriend’s fingers pulling on his shoulders, fingers curled into his sweater, trying to yank Richie closer and Richie had to resist burying his face against Eddie’s neck 

“No,” Eddie shook his head, somewhat drunkenly; his eyes were bleary and for some reason, it was harder to see Richie even though the taller boy was literally in his face. “Mum’s there, sh-she’d fuckin’ lock me up,” he scowled as he slurred his words.

“Then you can stay with me,” Richie said and chuckled when Eddie nodded eagerly. “Only making out and then sleeping, Eds, you’re a bit too tipsy, I think you’re _drunk_,” he laughed.

“You’re drunk!” Eddie childishly argued.

“If only,” Richie sighed unhappily. He leaned back in to rest his head against Eddie’s shoulder, he was still holding Eddie even though Eddie had his legs firmly locked around Richie’s narrow waist, his arms held Eddie up and he could now feel Eddie nibbling at his neck and Richie shuddered at the sensation.

Five more minutes keeping Eddie to himself couldn’t hurt, if Richie had the willpower to restrain himself, but Eddie smelled so fucking wonderful that Richie could feel his resolve starting to get shaved off layer by layer.

Richie had to back off and quick. He kissed Eddie more slowly, feeling Eddie’s lithe fingers coiling back into his hair and Richie yanked back with a startled huff and squeezed his boyfriend a bit too tightly when Eddie went back to necking him, feeling Eddie’s stuttered breath against his neck.

Over the pounding of music, Richie could still hear about everything that was going on, people chattering, laughter, and he tried to desperately shut it out, he could hear that stupid bully he fought with earlier when first meeting Eddie, cackling loudly with the group he hung out with and the last thing Richie needed was confrontation from that asshole and his goons.

He needed to leave before something happened, but Eddie was coming with him. With that in mind, Richie steeled himself and stepped back from their little niche in the corner and brought them back to where the rest of the crowd was.

The party was still going, it was after midnight and Richie saw of their friends again, but Mike and Bill were missing; Richie didn’t bother to try and look for them, they had been making heart eyes at each other all fucking night.

Stan had hurried over to them, concern on his face, his cheek were still pinkish from alcohol and he had to stare at Richie for a moment before finally getting his words, “Is he okay?”

“I’m taking him back to my place, he just got a bit too much to drink,” Richie said. He nodded at the other Losers, they had taken to a foldout table, playing cards with other classmates, before he looked back at Stan, “Did you want me to take you home?”

“No,” Stan shook his head. “Uhm, Ben is taking Beverly back his place soon, so he said he could drop me off.”

“Okay, well, just text me if the situation changes, I know no one would leave you here, but if you want to leave earlier just lemme know, man,” Richie said and wished him a good night.

“Water!” Stan shouted over the music.

Richie gave him a nod over his shoulder before taking Eddie outside, which his boyfriend immediately started to shiver from the temperature drop. He glanced over and saw that there were some other kids by the bonfire, feeding it branches to keep the fire going; he spotted Bill and Mike sitting on a log near the fire, cuddled up. He found his jeep and carefully got Eddie into the passenger seat, not without having another make-out with him, he was almost yanked on top of Eddie, “Jesus, Hulk, calm down,” he chuckled. 

“Can we…?” Eddie asked him, keeping his arms looped around Richie’s shoulders.

“Maybe when you’re sober and not just horny on main because you’ve been sexually repressed the majority of your teenage life,” Richie mused and then laughed when Eddie merely blinked at him.

“Words, Rich, too many,” Eddie sulked and let go of his boyfriend when he saw that Richie had fastened his seatbelt, much to his dismay, because it meant that he was trapped in this seat and not able to sit on his boyfriend’s lap.

Richie carefully shut the passenger door and it was then he sensed that someone was approaching, he turned and saw Bowers and the lanky boy with the stringy black hair stumbling over in Richie’s direction. He stopped himself from lunging forward, he had Eddie to take care of, so he then quickly got to the driver’s side and locked the doors, he heard one of them hit the side of his jeep and Richie gritted his teeth, but started his car and started to drive out the field onto the main road.

Richie drove carefully, as it seemed to get a bit frosty out. He had turned on the heat for Eddie, since his boyfriend was shivering, he was surprised that Eddie could even feel the cold. 

He was just fortunate that his house was only ten minutes away and soon he was pulling up the long driveway and forewent parking his jeep in the garage and instead parked under the overhang that was nearer by the front doors.

At one time, Richie recalled that they had guests and mom had it built so their guest’s cars were protected from the rain, snow, or hail, as we the people getting in and out of their vehicles.

Well, now it was for Richie to get said fussing person safely out of his car and inside without the hassle of fumbling around in the garage. The taller boy easily slid Eddie out of the passenger seat and laughed quietly when Eddie practically became an octopus again and Richie headed towards the front doors, both arms supporting Eddie under his bottom to keep him from sliding down.

He put one foot on the step outside the door, so Eddie could balance his weight on his thigh, as Richie could use his hands to flip through the four keys that he had until he found his housekey and unlocked the doors, quietly sneaking in and luckily the house was dark, other than the light coming from the stovetop light from the kitchen.

Richie was glad that Eddie wasn’t a loud drunk or really noisy in general as he snuck upstairs and passed his mother’s door that was shut, he glanced at the other end of the hall and saw that Kimmy’s door was shut too and Richie quietly headed towards his bedroom.

“Mm,” Eddie sighed happily when he was lying flat on the comfy surface of Richie’s bed. “Smells good,” he mumbled against the comforter and remained useless as Richie pulled off his boots and sweater, leaving him in his undershirt and jeans.

“Eddie, do you want to borrow some pajama pants?” Richie asked, rifling through his drawers to find something that Eddie could wear and without a doubt, they’d be too long, but better that than sleeping in denim.

Eddie didn’t answer, but just struggled to take his pants off and he saw how Richie was pointedly looking away as he passed him the soft pajama pants and he giggled, “I’m not naked!”

“I know,” Richie rolled his eyes. “You just seem like you’re a prude, Eds,” he teased and immediately saw Eddie pout and Richie couldn’t stop the smile from sliding onto his face.

“I am not!” Eddie sounded scandalized and went to take off his shirt to prove it until Richie grabbed at his hands to stop him and Eddie fussed about it. “Not a prude,” he grumbled.

“You proved me wrong, I’m sorry,” Richie soothed. “Put some pants on, ya filthy animal, while I go get you some water,” he said in a horrible accent that had Eddie giggling until he fell over onto the bed.

Richie quickly went downstairs and grabbed two bottles of water, he doubted that Eddie would drink a whole one, but it was still an effort. He came back to see that Eddie was still lying down, but had at least put the pajama bottoms on and Richie set the extra bottle of water on the bedside table before opening the other one that was still in his hands.

“No,” Eddie sulked when Richie sat him up and tried to get him to drink some of the water. “Cold and bland,” he wrinkled his nose.

“Yea, but your brain will hate you less if you drink it,” Richie said. “I’ll get your Gatorade in the morning, after the alcohol has worked through you, I don’t want you to throw it up.”

Eddie sipped the water and grimaced, but will admit it did chase away the gross, remaining sugary thickness the fruit punch left behind in his throat. He sipped at it more and more slowly when Richie told him to slow down and it probably took him almost an hour to drink ¾ of the water bottle.

“Okay, don’t force it,” Richie said when Eddie looked a bit too pale, like he was on the brink of getting sick. He took the water back and eased Eddie under the covers, keeping him on his side, “I’ll bring you a trashcan just in case, I’ll be right back,” he said and hurried to the hall bathroom, there was a fresh bag in there so he didn’t have to worry about changing it out and came back and placed it on Eddie’s side.

Richie changed for bed and checked on Eddie one more time and the shorter boy was out like a damn light; he text their group chat to let them know that they were back his place and sent a somewhat unflattering pictures of Eddie, whose face was mushed in the pillow, with a text under it: _Hope the drool comes out, ur so luck ur cute, Eds ;p_

With that, he put his phone on the charger and slid under the covers. Richie rolled over to face Eddie’s back, internally grateful that Eddie had been so out of it that he hadn’t realized that it had been completely dark in the bedroom.

_Well, oblivion is bliss._


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a curse where I get to chapter 11 for any fic of mine and fall off the face of the planet...sorry

When Eddie awoke, he immediately wished he was unconscious again. His hangover wasn’t bad per say, but he didn’t feel good and Eddie desperately tried to pretend that he wasn’t feeling his body trying to even reject oxygen.

There was no point trying to ignore it, Eddie cracked his eyes open, squinting even though it was fairly dark in the bedroom he was in, which he recognized was Richie’s by just touch alone. He looked up and saw Richie’s face was somewhat illuminated by the Switch he was holding, he must have been pretty absorbed into it, since Eddie could hear the soft clicking of the buttons.

“You awake?” Richie paused his game to look at Eddie and gave him a sympathetic look when he saw how miserable Eddie looked, practically swaddled in the blanket, only his sallow face peeking out between the dark folds of Richie’s comforter.

“Don’t want to be,” Eddie whispered; his voice was hoarse and he blinked tiredly.

“I’ll get you that Gatorade that I promised to get you when you woke up,” Richie said and carefully slid out of the bed, putting his Switch on the bedside table. He paused, “You aren’t going to get sick, are you?”

“Don’t think so,” Eddie murmured.

“Trash can is on your other side,” Richie reminded him before slipping out his bedroom. He hurried back downstairs to the kitchen and found his sister and mom at the island table, eating pancakes, “Mornin’, lovely ladies,” Richie cooed.

Kimmy stuck out her tongue.

“Dearest mother and sister gremlin,” Richie corrected with a smirk as he slid over the fridge.

“Richard,” his mother chided, but she was smiling fondly when Richie kissed her on the cheek.

Richie then went to the fridge, he grabbed a sugarless Gatorade, since the last thing he wanted was for Eddie to actually throw up, he grabbed a blue one and shut the fridge door and when he turned around he saw his mom’s confused expression.

“Did you have company?” his mother asked.

“Yea, Eddie came over last night,” Richie replied sheepishly.

Maggie then looked concerned, “Did you—”

“No,” Richie replied a bit too sharply. “Sorry, mom, I didn’t mean to snap,” he hastily apologized. “We didn’t do anything…and I didn’t do anything. I, uh, found a substitute,” Richie mumbled a bit shamefully.

Maggie stood and cupped her son’s face, “Were you okay, honey?” she asked softly.

Kimmy even looked worried.

“Yea, and Eddie’s safe too,” Richie replied.

“Safe from what?”

Richie practically froze at the sleepy voice and he peered over his mom’s shoulder and saw Eddie standing there, hair a ruffled mess, tiredly rubbing at his eyes; his heart lurched and warmed all at once at the sight and he was surprised that he was still standing, and not clutching at the table dramatically to keep himself on his feet.

The taller boy cleared his throat, “Safe from having a total hangover, because while my mom is cool, she’d still literally hang me on the clothesline if we had to take you to the hospital.”

“I don’t condone in teen parties, but he’s proved himself to be trustworthy,” Maggie sighed with much reluctance. She looked at Eddie with sympathy only a loving mother could express, “Come sit down, sweetie, I’ll make you some dry toast and broth to sip on.”

Eddie hadn’t processed what much was said, other than sit, so he shuffled over to the island and begrudgingly let Richie help him up into the tall chair, since his body was achy, “What if I’m sick,” he whispered, looking for his inhaler out of habit.

“You’re not sick, Eds,” Richie promised. “Just hungover, because fruit juice is your weakness apparently.”

“My mom doesn’t let me have sugary things,” Eddie wrinkled his nose. He groaned and hide his face in his hands, “She is going to _murder _me, Richie,” he whined. “I left my phone somewhere and I’m too scared to go look for it.”

Kimmy shoved a cut piece of pancake into her mouth, “Nice knowing you,” she simpered.

“Kimmy,” Richie warned. He saw Eddie shiver and told him he’d be right back, he snagged the folded throw-blanket that was on the back of the loveseat and came back into the kitchen and draped it over Eddie’s shoulders, “I’ll go look for your phone, it couldn’t have far,” he promised.

“Can you also look for a new identity for me?” Eddie pleaded.

Richie laughed, as did his mom, despite that Eddie looked grim. Richie shuffled closer, Eddie’s head just now came under his chin due to the extra height from the chair, “Hey,” he murmured, “I won’t let your mom do something dramatic.”

“I don’t think you have much say in this,” Eddie sighed. He thanked Richie’s mom when she put a plate of toast in front of him, his stomach growled, but his mouth felt like sand.

“Eat, drink, and you can shower too and I can take you home when you feel like it,” Richie said. “I’m going to my jeep, your phone might be in there,” he said, he left after that, opening the coat closet and found his rainboots, putting them on before heading out to his jeep that was still parked under the overhang.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him dote so much before,” Maggie commented as she poured the warmed chicken broth into a bowl for Eddie. She came over to Eddie, “He must really like you,” she added.

Eddie thought her smile looked sad, “Thanks…I…um,” his cheeks felt warm, “_Ilikehimtoo…_”

Maggie’s smiled warmed a little and she carefully ruffled Eddie’s hair. She looked at Kimmy’s plate that was now empty, “Sweetheart, how about you wash up and we can head to town? Maybe pick up a few things for dinner, hm?”

“Sure!” Kimmy chirped before hesitating to look at her mom.

“I’m fine, sweetie,” Maggie reassured her before watching her daughter dash off. Maggie collected the plate and fork before heading to the sink to rinse them off, “Sometimes if feels like they take care of instead of the other way around.”

“They really do love you, Richie talks about you a lot, how amazing you are,” Eddie said. He thought he heard her sniffle, but Eddie ducked his gaze and focused on the task of eating his toast. He startled when Richie was back at his side, holding his phone and Eddie felt dread pooling into his stomach, he felt like his child-self again, afraid to upset and disappoint his mother.

His phone was on 10% and Eddie saw that he had 23 missed calls all from his mom and 32 texts and holy shit was Eddie just contemplating moving in Richie at this point, because he was too afraid to go home.

“At least 10 are from us, so you don’t have to worry _that_ much,” Richie unhelpfully said when he saw Eddie scrolling through his messaging app. He backed off as soon as Eddie leveled him with a glare, despite him looking more like a ruffled baby bird than an actual threat.

“You’re going to have to find a rebound boyfriend,” Eddie still mourned.

Maggie looked worried, “Eddie, your mother, does she…harm you?” she asked somewhat hesitantly, but her tone was firm. She glanced at Richie, who shrugged, and she pinned Eddie with a stern look, “If that’s the case, you can stay here as long as you like.”

“My mom doesn’t hurt me, she’s just overprotective, like horribly—”

“She convinced Eddie since he was basically a child that he was sick all the time, constantly depending on an inhaler to breathe and she was super smothering,” Richie concluded and ignored the glare that Eddie shot at him.

“She’s just…worried all the time,” Eddie said, his tone was soft as he was speaking to Richie’s mother, but his glare was still on Richie. He then calmly looked at Maggie, “My father died when I was little, I don’t remember him, but it really messed my mom up. She thinks that she has to protect me from everything, I think she’s afraid of losing me too.”

Richie wasn’t going to comment what Eddie’s mother did was manipulative and cruel, forcing her son to be dependent on her, when she should be supportive in ways to help Eddie learn how to be independent, but still loving and nurturing, because he was still too young to be fully on his own.

“Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry, for the both of you,” Maggie apologized, her hands were shaking.

“Mom,” Richie called out to her firmly, snapping her out of her stupor. “I think Kimmy was calling for you.”

Maggie exhaled and apologized before hastily leaving the kitchen.

Eddie turned to Richie, wide-eyed, “Jesus, Richie, I’m _so _sorry—”

“It’s not your fault,” Richie interrupted. He kissed Eddie’s forehead, “You can shower and I’ll take you home, sound good?”

“Y-yea,” Eddie looked down, feeling shame burn through his body; he didn’t even feel hungover anymore, just really tired.

“I’ll clean up,” Richie said, “so march that cute tushie upstairs!”

Eddie rolled his eyes as he slid away to do just that.

~~~

“Thank your mom for me for the food and thank you for the free shower and also making sure I didn’t die in my sleep after drinking a fuck ton,” Eddie said when Richie had pulled up to the curb near Eddie’s house. He looked over at Richie, who was gazing at him so adoringly, that Eddie felt his stomach practically twist up in nerves.

“You’re a lightweight that was such shitty alcohol,” Richie teased and saw Eddie roll his eyes at him. “You’ll have to come over for dinner sometime, mom lets me have a couple glasses of wine and it’s great shit.”

“Your mom is the coolest mom to ever mom,” Eddie mused and felt his heart flutter when Richie tilted his head back to laugh loudly. When his Richie looked back at him, Eddie saw those dark eyes were practically sparkling with amusement, “I’ll see you later, if I’m not locked away.”

“Don’t worry, Rapunzel, I’ll come rescue you,” Richie mused, but his grin was the tiniest bit too sharp in seriousness. He leaned forward and kissed Eddie, he felt Eddie’s warm hand cup his cheek and Richie leaned into his touch and simply kept his head there even when they both had pulled back, just simply letting himself get memorized with the cute boy in front of him.

He took in the adorable cluster of freckles that just looked perfectly placed on Eddie’s naturally tanned skin, thick, dark eyelashes framing his rich brown eyes, cute button nose, soft pink lips, Richie’s gaze flicked over the cutely disarrayed hair that was somewhat curly; Eddie’s hair was more naturally wavy Richie realized, when the shorter boy didn’t try to plaster it down with product, “I like your hair like this,” Richie commented.

Eddie had patted at his hair self-consciously, “My mom says it makes me look like a wild, rebellious kid,” he muttered. “She usually cuts my hair every couple of weeks, but I haven’t let her near me in a while…”

Richie’s smile was sincere, “It makes you look carefree, like you belong on the Westcoast, longboarding and eating shaved ice” he mused. He carefully twirled a lock around his pale finger, “Cute,” Richie murmured. 

Eddie saw how Richie’s eyes seemed to grow a shade darker when he watched Eddie swallow, “Perv,” he muttered and saw that Richie looked confused before huffing out a soft laugh. “I really better go,” Eddie finally said, but making no effort to move.

“Yea,” Richie agreed, lacing his fingers with Eddie’s. He was turned in the driver’s seat, resting his head against the headrest, “We sure are rushing away, too fast for anyone to catch us.”

Eddie smiled, feeling his face warm when Richie just seemed content to sit there and look at him, “You’re too mushy.”

“Some would say otherwise,” Richie mused. “’Mere,” he murmured, leaning forward to kiss Eddie again, he cupped Eddie’s face this time, feeling his warmth seep into his skin. He made himself pull away, “Okay, for real, before I can’t save you from your mother.”

At this point, Eddie was willing to risk it all, he was only 17 and didn’t know much about love, but he could grow used to having Richie look at him like this, treating him gently, but still knew how to tease and playfully banter with Eddie; it kept him on his toes.

“Shall I walk you to your door, my _lurve_?” Richie crooned in a horrible British accent, making a kissy face at Eddie, who laughed and pushed his face away, and Richie let himself fall back dramatically.

“I’d rather you not get the cops called on you, my mom can be really vicious,” Eddie sighed unhappily. “Just text me when you get home?”

“Sure will,” Richie promised. He pressed the release on Eddie’ seatbelt, catching it before it whipped away, “Good luck, Eds.”

Eddie wrinkled his nose for a moment, “Yea,” he replied, but felt the annoyance trickle away when Richie gave him a fond smile and Eddie made himself get out the car with one final kiss to the cheek and then waved to Richie from the porch and squared his shoulders.

It was time to deal with the protective mother dragon. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeee!!! Finally, I get to post my favorite chapter lol
> 
> I'm sorry if I over-hyped it and it's not that good, but I personally was excited to post this one! c:
> 
> Also, warning of the f slur.

As soon as Eddie saw his mother, he thought he saw the blood drain from her face before her cheeks became flush with rage, and took everything in Eddie’s power to not back down when she waddle-stalked over to him.

“Where have you been?!” Sonia shrieked. “I was worried sick! I told you to come home!”

“I was out with my friends,” Eddie said, voice calm, which seemed to upset his mother more. “I _wanted_ to go hang out with my friends, they’re good people, Mom!”

“They’re dirty and you don’t need them, Eddie, I’ve told you this before!” Sonia exclaimed. Her eyes widened behind her glasses when she was the bruising on Eddie’s neck, “What is on your skin?” she demanded, she grabbed Eddie by the wrist to yank him closer.

Eddie felt a flush rush up his face, “It’s nothing, Mom,” he said, tugging away from his mother.

“You were with that dirty Tozier boy, weren’t you?” Sonia demanded.

Eddie remained silent.

“You are not stepping foot outside of this house until I say so,” Sonia seethed, and somehow her skin turned flusher with rage. “You will give me your phone and you’re to go upstairs, do you understand me?”

“Mom, you’re not being fair!” Eddie scowled when she had physically taken his phone. “You’re always trying to keep me away from my friends, but they’re not evil like you think they are! They accept me and don’t try to keep me with them by trying to guilt trip me all the time!”

“You don’t need them!” Sonia cried. “I know what’s good for you and those awful children are not going to keep you safe, Eddie!”

“No,” Eddie shook his head. He was tall as his mom, perhaps only half an inch taller than her, but he didn’t need his height to go against his mother; he proved his point that she didn’t control him anymore. He shakily exhaled, reigning in his temper, “I’m going on a walk,” Eddie said and had turned around quickly, bolting out the door, ignoring his mother’s angry shrieking of his name.

Eddie didn’t know what to do, he didn’t have his car keys on him, so he decided to walk over to Stan’s and hopefully his friend wasn’t too busy to hang out.

He headed over to Stan’s house and Eddie couldn’t help but feel a little anxious, he’s never ran away from home before, he feels a bit lightheaded and his pulse is fast; Eddie feels like he’s going to black out.

It spurs Eddie to move quickly to Stan’s and he’s able to get there in record time and Eddie races up Stan’s front porch and rings the doorbell twice, before shivering a little, because it feels much colder out when Eddie’s temper isn’t making his blood boil from rage.

It was Mrs. Uris who opened the door, she looked at Eddie in confusion before smiling, “Eddie! My goodness, you’ve grown!” Mrs. Uris opened the door and ushered him inside. “Come in, come in! Let’s get you out of that cold, you’re only in a sweater, young man!”

“Hi, Mrs. Uris,” Eddie smiled; he didn’t see Stan’s mother much, she usually kept herself in her room or the study, well, that’s what Stan told him. He glanced around the house, it was neat and orderly, shoes were placed on a wooden shoe rack, the rug that was on top of the wooden floor looked just vacuumed and he felt bad for stepping on it with his shoes.

“I’m assuming you’re here for Stan,” Mrs. Uris said. She gave him a sympathetic look, “But he’s a little unwell right now. He’s been bedridden all this morning.”

Oh, shit, right, the party…

“Oh…I hope he feels better,” Eddie was a little slow to answer and saw that she was giving him a curious look. “I think it must be going around the school, lots of kids were out earlier this week.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me, it’s that time of year,” Mrs. Uris sighed unhappily. “I am surprised though that your mother let you out of the house!” she didn’t mean to sound harsh, but Eddie still winced.

Before Eddie could answer, there was a soft rasp of: “Mom.”

Mrs. Uris turned and saw her son standing at the foot of the stairs and she frowned, “Sweetie, you should still be in bed.”

“I’m fine,” Stan said, even though he did not look fine; skin sallow, curly hair a wild mess, and he looked a little sweaty.

Eddie wondered if that’s how he looked; he couldn’t really remember this morning or this afternoon very well, other than Richie dropping him off back at his house.

“I’ll go make you some tea,” Mrs. Uris fretted. “Eddie, sweetie, would you like any?”

“Um, sure Mrs. Uris, thank you,” Eddie said and watched her quickly head to the kitchen.

“Come on,” Stan weakly gestured upstairs. 

“Jesus,” Eddie hissed softly, “you _look_ like you’re sick.”

“I’m never drinking spiked punch again,” Stan muttered. He eyed Eddie when they reached the second floor, “You look hardly hungover, what the fuck did you do?”

“Uh, just slept, ate some toast and showered, the shower made me feel so much better,” Eddie replied. 

Stan grunted as he sat cross-legged in the middle of his messy bed and watched Eddie take a seat at the desk chair, “Is Richie okay too? He said that he was taking you back to his place.”

“Yea,” Eddie automatically felt his face warming at the mention of his boyfriend. “He didn’t get that drunk last night, I don’t really think he even drank that much,” he replied.

“Hope not, he drove,” Stan mused. The smile slid from his face, “So, I’m guessing things didn’t go well with your mom?” he asked carefully.

Eddie shook his head glumly. He sighed, dropping his cheek into his hand when he braced his arm on the table top, “Weird thing is that it sounded like she was more upset about me being with Richie,” he replied. “She took my phone, so sorry for dropping by unannounced, Stan,” Eddie apologized sheepishly.

“Nah, I’d rather have you here than outside in the cold,” Stan reassured him. 

Mrs. Uris popped in that moment and sat Eddie’s drink on the table by him and then went to Stan and placed the cup of hot tea on the bedside table, before pressing a kiss to Stan’s forehead, which her son flushed in embarrassment.

“Mom,” Stan whined. “I’m not ten anymore,” he reminded.

Mrs. Uris pinched his cheek, “Still my baby, no matter how old you get,” she cooed and ruffled Eddie’s hair in passing before leaving the two boys alone, quietly shutting Stan’s bedroom door behind her.

“She seems…much happier,” Eddie commented quietly.

“Yea, because dad isn’t home,” Stan grimaced. “He went on some road trip for work, he won’t be back until next Wednesday or so.”

Eddie gave him a sympathetic look, “Geez, man, I shouldn’t be whining to you about my issues.”

“S’okay,” Stan shrugged, an indifferent expression crossed his face as he grabbed his drink. “Just shitty that I’m going to have to deal with…with the outcome of _that _and deal with college applications.”

Eddie didn’t even want to think about college shit, his mom practically tossed out all college applications that came in the mail, so he had to secretly dig them all out of the trash and leaf through them.

There was a lingering grim silence, until Eddie cleared his throat.

“So, did we win any bet money? Did Bill ask out Mike?” Eddie asked, changing the subject.

“As it turns out, we owe Ben and Bev,” Stan sighed regretfully.

Eddie’s eyes widened, “No _fucking _way!” he cried.

“Shh!” Stan hissed, but he was then grinning. “I remember catching the both of them by the bonfire and saw Mike take Bill’s hand.”

“Stan, you should have vouched that you saw Bill take Mike’s hand!” Eddie whined.

“It would have gotten out anyway,” Stan reminded him. “Plus, I was too cold and drunk to really care at that moment until Beverly told us to pay up.”

“How the shit did she even know that Homeschool would be the one to step up? She dated Bill,” Eddie rolled his eyes. “Mike’s so prime and proper and _shy_! I thought farmer boys were clueless.”

“Because she dated Bill,” Stan stated the obvious. “Now that I think about it, Bev asked Bill out,” he groaned. “We should have sided with her.”

Well, at that that moment, Eddie was happy he didn’t have his phone to PayPal anyone.

“I don’t wanna talk about losses right now,” Stan said as he scooted over and patted his bed. “Wanna watch some Star Trek?”

“God, you and Richie would be perfect for each other,” Eddie sneered, but easily relented and heard Stan chuckle at him as his friend set up his laptop.

“Nah, he’s too…wild for me, you’re just as bad, but somehow it works out for the both of you,” Stan replied, oblivious to Eddie’s warm blush at Stan’s approval of their relationship.

“Whatever, you’re just a bird fucker,” Eddie murmured, not knowing what to say and kicked off his shoes before curling up next to Stan.

~~~

Eddie left before dinner, he wasn’t hungry, no matter how much Stan tried to bribe him to stay over with cherry cobbler for dessert, but Eddie knew he should head home before daylight was truly gone, since it got dark early.

“Fine, will you at least text me?” Stan asked.

“Can’t my mom has my phone, remember?” Eddie reminded as he sat down and tied his shoes at the foot of the stairs.

Stan leaned on the stair railing as he sighed, “Fine, I’ll just call your shitty, ancient landline after dinner, okay?”

“Yes, mother hen,” Eddie teased and laughed when Stan lightly shoved him. “Bye Stan,” his eyes twinkled and he said good-bye to Mrs. Uris, who hollered back to him to have a safe walk.

Eddie waved once more when he saw Stan standing in the doorway and then headed in the direction towards his house. Eddie grimaced, because he wished he had at least grabbed his coat before he stormed out, but pissed Eddie didn’t think logically, “I’ll never hear the end of it if I get sick,” he muttered.

He had just made it to the park when he heard a familiar car revving and Eddie’s terrified eyes shot over and saw Blech’s blue car parked on the side of the street, the gang were inside the car, smoking pot with the windows down and Eddie went to cut through the park to escape when he heard Bowers.

“Fairy boy!”

Eddie didn’t even hesitate, he tore through the park without a second thought, he thought he heard a car door slam shut, but Eddie didn’t look back because that would waste every precious second he needed to put distance between him and those college-age boys, but obviously none of them left for secondary school.

Vaguely, as he ran through the small woods that separated the park from the more outlandish backroads of Derry, Eddie thought he could hear one of them running after him, Eddie was pulling through the woods when he realized that he ended up nearby the Kissing Bridge, a little further down, close by the large drain pipe where they had gone looking for Georgie’s toy boat that had been swept away by the rain.

He spared a glance behind him when he crossed the shallow, frozen creek, Eddie knew he was fucked, because it was Bowers tailing after him, it was getting close to sundown, his mother was probably calling the police now, which was somehow scarier than the fact that Henry fucking Bowers was chasing after him like a rabid dog.

He made it to the other side and was now ducking through some trees, his right side hurt from running so fast, his lungs burned, and his legs were starting to feel like jelly. Eddie couldn’t stop because who the fuck knew what Bowers was going to do to him, because Bowers had a fucking temper, it didn’t matter if Henry didn’t remember incident a little over a month ago involving Richie; he would fucking harass the shit out of anyone for just existing.

“Get back here, you fucking faggot!” Henry shouted and bits of spittle flew from his mouth as he practically gasped for breath as he ran after Eddie; he held his prized pocketknife in his hand.

Eddie could hear his aggressive breathing and Eddie urged himself to run faster before his shoe caught a root and he was sent plummeting to the leaf covered ground that was cold and damp. He heard Henry’s sinister cackling and he flipped himself over, scrambling backwards, cutting his hands up on sharp rocks and branches, “What do you fucking want?!” Eddie shouted, his chest was hurting and he thought his lungs were going to collapse in either shock or from this exertion.

Henry loomed threateningly over Eddie, his smile was eerie and somewhat uneven, lips pulled thin over his somewhat jagged teeth; it made him look like a feral version of the Cheshire Cat. He stomped one muddy boot by Eddie’s foot, “I’m going to fucking slice you up, fairy, just so your stupid fucking boyfriend knows who he’s messing with.”

“You hit him in the face!” Eddie reminded him shrilly, voice coming out in a slight wheeze. He was still trying to get himself back onto his feet, but his legs were vibrating and he didn’t know if they’d be able to hold him up; his hands were also getting numb from shock and the cold.

Henry was shaking his head as the smile was still on his face, “Not good enough, queer, we don’t like your kind in our town, doesn’t even matter if you were born here, fag.”

Eddie was already trembling from the cold, but it got worse when the pocketknife came into view; he was alone in the woods with no phone after having that stupid fight with his mom.

He was going to fucking die in these woods and Eddie couldn’t even muffle back the whimper that slipped out of his mouth and Henry practically crowed out a sneering laugh at him.

Then, Eddie saw a rusty red colored jumper lurking behind a tree and his eyes grew comically wider when he saw a familiar pale face, deep, dark eyes and loose curly hair in the same shade of his eyes, “Richie,” he whispered, shaking his head worriedly as he looked at his boyfriend.

Henry glowered at Eddie for a second, turning around to see what he was staring at, but there was no one behind him, he turned back to face Eddie to insult him again and when he did, he saw that Eddie wasn’t alone, he was still on the ground, Richie was knelt behind him, who’s black eyes were trained onto him unblinkingly, “Followed us out here, huh?” he demanded. He smirked, “Whatever, I’ll cut you up too, make you watch what I’ll do to him,” he laughed at Richie.

“R-Richie,” Eddie stammered, looking up at the taller, he felt so afraid in this moment, but now it was for Richie; his boyfriend had a hand on his shoulder that was meant to calm him. Eddie coiled his fingers around Richie’s wrist, his boyfriend’s skin was cold through the sweater material and Eddie would need to remind him to wear a fucking coat if they got out of this alive.

Finally, Richie looked down at Eddie, eyes much softer, but dark as ever, “Eddie,” he breathed, he moved the hand he had on Eddie’s shoulder to cup his boyfriend’s face and that thumb gently stroked across his cheek before lifting away and he swept his thumb across Eddie’s forehead as he looked into Eddie’s eyes. He saw the glazed expression cross over his boyfriend’s face and Richie eased him down as Eddie fell unconscious and then Richie’s attention snapped back up to Henry, a twisted smile came on Richie’s face as he slowly stood up, easily stepping over his boyfriend and saw Henry take a couple steps back.

“W-what the fuck?!” Henry shouted and took another step back as Richie advanced towards him with a sharp fanged grin split across his face. “Stay the fuck away from me!” he shouted. He heard Richie let out a single, sharp laugh before lunging at him and the last thing he saw was the darkness in Richie’s eyes.

Birds scattered into the sky with startled cries.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the format is a little off, wanted to quickly update before this laptop dies forever, yay.
> 
> Luckily, this is all I've typed so I won't lose anything if I have to get a new laptop, which is gonna suck if I have to :////
> 
> Anywho, happy Friday, ya'll!!!

Wakefulness was hard and Eddie was content to just stay where he was, in this comforting numbness, where nothing could harm him; his mind was practically mush, not a single thought racing through his normally hyperactive brain.

He was eager to drop back off into the nothingness, but there was a tiny niggling voice in his brain, telling him that something was off and Eddie desperately tried to ignore it, because he didn’t _want_ to deal with it right now. He let out a soft, grumpy sound and that’s when he heard a very quiet huff that sounded like a muffled laugh, and then he made himself open his very heavy eyes.

“You’re awake?” Richie’s soft voice whispered as his lips pressed an even softer kiss to the top of Eddie’s head. He didn’t say anything else, he remained still, keeping Eddie cradled against him, even as his boyfriend sluggishly moved to tuck his face against Richie’s throat.

Eddie hummed sleepily, still feeling groggy, happy to just remain where he was. He could already feel himself starting to nod back off, but he wanted to fight it off; he needed to wake up. He heard Richie humming softly, could feel the vibrations of it against his cheek and lips and along the bridge of his nose as those were the places pushed up against Richie’s throat and under his jaw, “How did I get here?”

His words weren’t that clear as he anticipated, but Richie seemed to understand him anyway, because he answered Eddie’s question.

“You had a fight with your mom,” Richie murmured gently, lifting a hand to gently stroke Eddie’s cheek. “I was dropping Kimmy off at her friends, and picked you up when I saw you walking on the sidewalk, vented your heart out in the car, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear so much in your life,” he chuckled softly. “Then we got here and played some videogames and you pretty much fell asleep during our Mario Kart match.”

“Surprised we didn’t break up, so you must have let me win,” Eddie mumbled and was jostled by Richie’s amused laugh, he felt lean arms holding him steady against Richie.

“You’re silly, Eds,” Richie mused. “Sleep some more, okay? It’s pretty early.”

Eddie hummed at that, eyes still blinking open blearily; he managed to sneak a look at the alarm clock on the bedside table and saw that was only a little after four in the morning. While the rational part of his brain said that he should go back to sleep, the other part of him was jittery, it was a nervous jitter and it meant that he needed to be more coherent.

He must have made a fussing sound because Richie gently hushed him before lying them both down on Richie’s bed and Eddie wriggled a bit when he was facing Richie. Eddie shivered lightly as cold lips pressed to his forehead and Richie was whispering something as he could feel his lips move, but couldn’t process the words. He felt his face being gently cupped and Eddie blinked sleepily up at him; Richie looked a little scary and Eddie felt his heart thud uncomfortably fast.

“Shh, Eddie, you’re getting all worked up,” Richie soothed. “Relax, you’re okay,” he cajoled and felt Eddie trying to calm down. He cooed at the effort and gingerly stroked Eddie’s soft cheek with his thumb before pressing his lips back to Eddie’s forehead once more and then felt Eddie go limp. Richie sighed unhappily, “Sorry,” he apologized to deaf ears.

He slid away from Eddie after holding him for a couple more minutes and then tucked the comforter around his boyfriend; Richie cast one more look over his shoulder at Eddie and felt guilt gnawing at his insides, but Richie left his bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him before sneaking out of the house.

~~~

The second time Eddie woke, Richie was lightly nudging him.

“Wha?” Eddie murmured, squinting into the dim light and jolted in fear when he saw how close Richie’s face was to his. “Jesus, Richie!” he gasped, almost falling off the bed if his boyfriend didn’t stabilize him.

“Sorry,” Richie apologized meekly. “Figured you’d want some breakfast.”

“Breakfast?” Eddie echoed; his eyebrows furrowed in confusion before he sat straight up with a yelp. He frantically looked around before remembering the alarm clock on Richie’s side table, it was nearly 9 in the morning, “Fuck!”

It was Sunday.

Richie soothingly put his hands-on Eddie’s shoulders, “Calm down, you’re freaking out,” he said unhelpfully.

“No shit, dipshit!” Eddie shrieked. “My mom is gonna fucking kill me for real this time and keep my body in the basement, Richie!” he cried.

“She won’t,” Richie shook his head at him. 

“Richie—” Eddie seemed to choke on his words as it was suddenly harder to breathe and he realized that he was literally about to have a panic attack and trying to make himself calm down was making it harder to breathe.

“Hey, _hey_,” Richie said gently, he cupped Eddie’s face, tilting his head up slightly. “Breathe, shh, it’s okay, I swear to you, Eddie, it’s going to be fine. You’re going to be okay, your mom is fine, she’s not pissed off.”

“Y-you don’t kn-know that!” Eddie choked out.

“I do know that,” Richie’s words were firm. He saw that Eddie was almost breathing regularly again, but it was still labor-ish, “Better, just a few more deep breaths, in and out.”

Eddie was shaky by the time he didn’t feel like he was going to black out. He shakily grabbed Richie’s hands from his face to hold them in his lap, Richie squeezed his hands soothingly, “You’re warm,” he commented, as it was the only thing he could focus on, since he felt like an ice block right now.

“Invested in some gloves,” Richie winked. He carefully looked over Eddie’s face, “Are you okay to come downstairs for some food? My mom is still in bed, but Kimmy is downstairs eating breakfast.”

“I have to go home,” Eddie replied with a shake of his head.

Richie sighed, “Okay,” he relented somewhat unhappily. He felt Eddie pull away from his touch and watched his boyfriend grab his shoes that were at the foot of the bed, “Are you sure that you’re okay?”

“I’m not,” Eddie whispered, he could feel his eyes watering. “My mom is going to fucking flip, Richie. I’m probably going to get taken out of school because of her,” his voice was getting watery.

“Hey, none of that,” Richie rounded over to him. “You’re not going to get in trouble, okay? Just _trust_ me, all right? I talked to her, she’s okay…well, she was frantic, but after talking to her, she seemed calmer.”

“You _what_?!” Eddie shrilled. 

“I’m great with moms, dude,” Richie’s smirk was sleazy.

Eddie was still giving him a wild-eyed stare, “What did you say?”

“I’ve gotta keep some tricks up my sleeve, don’t I?” Richie’s smile was much cheekier this time and laughed when Eddie scowled at him angrily. He stood up, he kissed Eddie gently, pushing back his hair off his forehead, “I promise you, she’ll leave it alone, so you can stay for breakfast, but if you want to go home, I’ll take you home.”

“Just take me home, Rich,” Eddie said miserably; he didn’t believe his boyfriend for a second about talking to his psychotic mother.

Richie rolled his eyes, “Okay,” he drawled out with a pout. He waited until Eddie had pulled on his shoes and sweater before following him out of the bedroom, he heard Eddie’s stomach growl when he undoubtfully smelled bacon and pancakes, but Richie kept his mouth shut.

Eddie was still panicking as he walked down the stairs, “Did my mom threaten you or did she say anything at all?” Eddie asked when left out the front door. He saw that Richie’s jeep was parked out front, instead of being in the garage.

“Nope,” Riche replied, he opened Eddie’s door for him before closing it and walked around to the driver’s side. “Are you sure that I can’t convince you to eat before I take you home?”

“I’m fine,” Eddie responded firmly.

“Your favorite diner is on the way,” Richie suggested as he started his jeep.

“Jesus, Richie, I’m fine!” Eddie snapped. He rubbed at his eyes; his head felt foggy and the mix with anxiety wasn’t helping any, he didn’t even remember Richie picking him up last night, which was what he was trying to recall.

Richie went silent after that, he flicked on the radio and put in on low to cancel out some of the silence.

“I’m sorry for snapping, I’m just…feeling a little confused,” Eddie murmured apologetically. “I don’t remember coming over.”

“Well, you told me about you and your mom having a fight, her taking your phone, visiting Stan—” Richie was cut off by Eddie letting out another swear.

“Fuck! Stan probably thinks I’m dead!” Eddie shouted. “He said he was going to call my house phone to make sure I got home okay!”

“Nah, I text him last night that you were with me,” Richie reassured him. He held Eddie’ left hand in his as he drove, “He was glad that you were with me and not your mom, he said that you looked really upset when you had visited. You even watched Star Trek without a fuss,” he teased.

“I’m not a geek like you or Stan,” Eddie huffed, sulking out the passenger window.”

“I’ve yet to have my wicked way with you,” Richie’s tone was flirty at most. He glanced at Eddie before looking back at the road, “You’re shaking,” he murmured, squeezing Eddie’s hand briefly, “you’re okay, your mom won’t lock you up or take you out of school, Eddie.”

“You don’t know her,” Eddie whispered, looking down at his lap. “I’ve only told you a few batshit crazy things that she’s done, but she…she’s insanely protective, Richie.”

“Then I’ll walk you to your front door,” Richie said suddenly. He felt Eddie’s hand try to pull out of his own, “What?”

Eddie gawked at him, “Like hell you are, Richie! She’ll literally call the cops on you!”

“You’re just being dramatic,” Richie rolled his eyes. 

They were approaching Eddie’s house and Eddie felt sick with nerves.

“No, you should just go,” Eddie tried to sound stern, but he honestly was afraid to go home. He heard Richie’s seatbelt unclip and Eddie whipped his gaze back over to his boyfriend, “I’m serious!”

“So am I,” Richie replied, he looked at Eddie carefully. “I promise you a thousand times over, Eddie, she’s not going to freak out,” he swore once again. He pulled Eddie close, kissing him softly; it made him unhappy that Eddie didn’t kiss him back.

Eddie had pulled back with a small frown, “You’re not going to let this go, are you?” he sighed. He saw the stern look on Richie’s face and all Eddie could do was just sulk at him, “Fine, but I’m not bailing you out.”

“You’re forgetting that I practically own Derry,” Richie reminded with a smug look.

“God, you’re insufferable,” Eddie muttered and unfastened his seatbelt and practically shoved open the passenger door to get out. He noticed that Richie was by his side immediately and he grumbled a little that it startled him; Richie didn’t say anything, but Eddie caught a glimpse of his lips twitching into an almost smile before turning away.

Walking up the short flight of stairs up to his porch felt like a death sentence and Eddie was genuinely frightened, as he had never acted out like this before and he wasn’t for sure how his mother was going to react now that he was coming back.

Richie silently held his hand after Eddie unlocked the front door, his hand remained still on the handle; he nudged Eddie lightly to get a move on.

“If we die, this is all your fault,” Eddie snapped quietly before pushing the door open. The hallway was lit up and he heard his mother…humming? Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion; his mother _never_ sang, not even when they had gone to church.

Eddie had taken one step over the threshold of the door before he heard the sink shut off in the kitchen and his mother rounded the corner, he froze there, staring at his mother who was staring back at him.

“Oh, Eddie-Bear, there you are!” Sonia chirped. She looked over her son’s shoulder and saw Richie there, “Ah, so you must be Richie? I didn’t get a good look at you the first time when my sweetie-pie fixed you up!”

Eddie felt like he was in the Twilight Zone; his mother was smiling?! Being civil towards his friends? Eddie took a half-step back in fear when she came forward to them, “Ma?” he asked hesitantly.

“Don’t just linger in the door, boys! You’re letting all cold air in, so c’mon, in you two get!” Sonia gestured for them to come inside.

Eddie felt Richie at his back, lightly pushing him forward and Eddie had no choice but be in the small foyer of his home. 

“I just finished baking some peanut butter cookies for the girls at tonight’s book club, but you two can have some,” Sonia stated. “Richie would you like to stay for a warm snack?” she asked as she headed back into the kitchen.

Eddie was staring in horror, who was this woman and what happened to the lady who refused to even buy peanut butter, because of Eddie’s “allergy” to nuts.

“Sure thing, Mrs. K, thanks!” Richie’s smile was broad, as if there was a joke that Eddie wasn’t getting, which then had his boyfriend angrily poking him in the chest.

“What the _fuck_?” Eddie whispered as he glowered up at Richie. “Did you fucking roofie my mother? Why is she behaving like a 50s mother in a commercial?!” he demanded. He whipped back around to gawk as his mother went about humming some more as she set out small plates and was pouring milk for them and it was _real_ fucking milk, not that lactose-free stuff either.

Richie gave his boyfriend an innocent look, “What do you mean?” he asked with a slight tilt of his head when he saw that Eddie looked distraught. “I told you I talked to her.”

“Did you fucking threaten her with the Russian mafia?!” Eddie shrilled.

“Oh, Eddie, are you all right?” his mother asked, popping her head back into the foyer. “Cookies are getting cold, so hustle on in here!”

The taller boy shrugged his shoulders, “You heard her, Eds, let’s go,” Richie had taken Eddie’s hand again and this time actually dragged him into the kitchen before sitting him down at one of the kitchen table chairs.

Eddie sat rigidly in the chair, staring in muted shock between his boyfriend and his mother, the both of them have a conversation about some cooking show that Richie watched sometimes with his mom when she was feeling well.

“These cookies are stellar, Mrs. K,” Richie commented taking a small bite.

Eddie didn’t even see him swallow and he worriedly stared at the two that were still on his plate; were they poisoned? He looked at Richie to gage any reaction, but Richie was committedly listening to Sonia talking about some sewing project she was picking back up on.

Sonia had glanced over to look at Eddie and gave her son a puzzled look, “Hon, you haven’t even touched your cookies? Did you want something else?”

“Mm, he didn’t get to eat breakfast this morning, because he was in such a rush to get home,” Richie rolled his eyes dramatically.

Sonia immediately hefted herself up, “Eddie-Bear, why didn’t you say something? Let me make you some breakfast!” she had hurried over to the fridge to get eggs out of the fridge.

“Mom, it’s fine, I’m actually kinda tired,” Eddie confessed. If he really thought about it, he was, the anxious adrenaline rush was fading, which was making him feel like lead.

Sonia hummed, “Then go get some rest, sweetie, I’ll make you some brunch when you wake up,” she said and came over to him to kiss his forehead. She turned to look back at Richie, “It truly was nice meeting you, dear.”

“Right back at you, Mrs. K,” Richie winked and smirked when Sonia giggled.

Eddie thought his jaw was going to hit the table.

“Mm, that’s hot,” Richie mused when Sonia was out of earshot to go watch TV in the living room, his eyes were trained on Eddie’s face.

Eddie shut his mouth and stared at Richie, “Seriously, who the _fuck_ is that woman?”

“Your mom,” Richie mused.

“No, that was _not_ her, Richie,” Eddie was shaking his head. “She…never behaves like that, she’d never willingly to make peanut butter cookies or…or give me actual milk and she sure as fuck would never let me have any of my friends over and be happy about it!”

“But it makes you happy though, doesn’t it?” Richie asked him gently, placing his hand over Eddie’s that was resting on the tabletop. He gave Eddie an imploring look when Eddie gave him a timid nod in answer to Richie’s question, “Then your mom should respect what makes you happy, right?”

“But this is just _weird_,” Eddie whispered, shakily looking in the direction of the living room; he couldn’t see her, but he heard the TV that was playing some Sunday morning gameshow.

“I think you’re just tired and a little paranoid,” Richie said. “C’mon, show me to your room,” he tacked on with a playful smile.

“You know where it is, stalker,” Eddie rolled his eyes, but got up anyway. He cleaned up the plates and put the extra cookies in a baggie and left them with the Tupperware container that had the other cookies in there. He hurried up the stairs, scared that his mother would actually call for him to come talk to her and he really didn’t want to deal with any of that right now.

When they reached Eddie’s bedroom, he quietly shut the bedroom door, but the jittery set of nerves were still present, his heart was racing; he was waiting for his mother thunderous steps to come up the stairs and down the hall and demand why he shut his bedroom door.

When he looked at Richie, he was a bit startled to see how intensely Richie was looking at him and it looked like he was sort of holding himself back, “Are you okay?” Eddie asked, moving to sit on his bed and toed off his shoes. He saw that his cellphone was on the bedside table and he quickly grabbed it, finding it fully charged with unread messaging from his group chat on the lock screen.

Richie cleared his throat, ducking his head as he hastily looked away from Eddie to lean against the window sill, “Yea, sorry,” he murmured, still looking away from his boyfriend.

“So,” Eddie said slowly.

“So,” Richie mimicked him, this time looking at his boyfriend with a sparkle in his dark eyes. 

“You’re in the occult, huh?” Eddie asked him easily as he leveled the taller boy with a sharp look.

Richie laughed loudly at that where he was almost bent over.

Eddie didn’t think it was _that_ funny.

“You’re too hilarious, you know?” Richie said between giggles, wiping at his eyes. “No, I’m not part of a cult or whatever, no I’m not a warlock or witch, don’t have any of that, just a pureblood muggle,” he winked.

Eddie raised an eyebrow, “Did you bribe her?”

“Nope, didn’t bribe her either. Why can’t you just be happy that she isn’t locking you up in a tower, Rapunzel?” Richie sighed. He stretched his arms above his head, “Figured you’d like that part, where you know, you can still see your friends and boyfriend, and get your phone back,” he nodded to Eddie’s cellphone that Eddie put on his bed.

“Because this all too weird,” Eddie frowned. “I’m scared that it’s all just a giant hoax and that she’s going to become a fucking monster when you leave,” his voice got shaky and he brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs.

Richie frowned at that and crossed over to Eddie, he sat on the bed, putting his hand on Eddie’s bicep, “She won’t hurt you, Eddie,” his voice was practically steel and the look in his eyes matched the hardness of his words. Richie toned it back almost immediately, by gently following up with: “You should probably get some rest, you’re just upset from last night.”

Eddie almost didn’t want to sleep, but his eyes did feel heavy, “Stop making me think that’s something wrong with me,” he gritted out.

Richie froze before pulling out of Eddie’s space, “Right, sorry,” he muttered, eyes going dull.

“Sorry, it’s just…this is a lot to take in,” Eddie apologized halfheartedly.

Richie was giving him a sympathetic look, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Eds, get some rest,” he said suddenly. He didn’t wait for Eddie to say anything else, he left swiftly, shutting the door behind him soundlessly.

Eddie felt thought his head was going to collapse from the swirl of emotions currently going through him, but his exhaustion won over and Eddie could only flop back onto his bed, his eyes blinked once, twice, with the third he thought he saw a slim figure looming in his peripheral, but he blamed it on his sleepiness and easily succumbed to sleep; he didn’t feel the blankets being lifted to cover him.

~~~

Monday was unwelcome, Eddie thought as he dodged around his still eerily chipper mother, who made him chocolate chip pancakes and had given him a glass of milk to wash it all down with.

Well, Eddie didn’t feel any different after breakfast, he tested his luck by grabbing his car keys on the hook by the back door and glanced over to his mother, who had wished him a wonderful day and to be careful, before cleaning up the dishes.

“I’ll be home a little later, sweetie, Darla is out with a cold, so I’m covering her reception spot until six tonight,” his mother informed him, as she rinsed a plate. “But there is leftover tuna salad I made last night that you can have for an afterschool snack, okay?”

“Sure, thanks,” Eddie replied, staring at this woman with confusion before telling her goodbye and hurried out the backdoor and headed to his car, where he tossed his bookbag in the backseat and then hastily got into the driver’s side; he was waiting for his mom to come rushing out the backdoor, but she never did.

The drive to school was quick and Eddie hadn’t really processed the drive; he still felt odd. Eddie parked his car in the school parking lot before getting out and grabbing his bag, he tucked his face into his scarf when a cold gust of wind suddenly came out of nowhere and he hurried inside, mindful of the other students heading inside.

“Hey, Eddie,” it was Stan coming to his locker.

“Hey,” Eddie greeted him distractedly as he shoved his backpack into his locker and grabbed his English book. He glanced around for Richie, but didn’t see his beanpole of a boyfriend anywhere; he was now worried that he hurt Richie’s feelings last night.

Stan easily caught on, “Richie’s in class already, he said he needed to finish something up,” he explained.

“Oh,” Eddie replied, falling into step with Stan.

“Are you okay?” Stan asked him, moving to stand off to the side of the hall to let other kids get to class. He looked over Eddie, see that his friend looked distracted and had an odd look on his face, “You look…distressed.”

“I think Richie did something to my mom,” Eddie said quietly.

Stan’s blue eyes widened in surprise, “What?” his tone was level though.

“Dude, she was absolutely furious when I left home on Saturday, but yesterday, I went back home, she was making peanut butter cookies!” Eddie was gesturing wildly. “My anti-happiness of a mother gave _me_ peanut butter cookies and milk.”

Stan was merely blinking in surprise at him, silent with shock.

“Yea, me too,” Eddie read Stan’s befuddlement clearly. “You know what’s more fucking wild? Richie came over and she had a conversation with him, Stan. Like, I was bringing him home to meet the parents, but without all the drama portrayed in the movies.”

“Eddie, I think Richie made a clone of your mom, but gave her all the nice genes,” Stan clapped him on the shoulder. “Or Richie is just a demi-god in disguise and can just charm happiness into all human beings.”

“I have no idea, but I think I’m more nervous to be home, because of how she’s acting,” Eddie shivered. He glanced at the hall clock; they should hurry and get to English before the final bell rang.

When the duo got into class, Richie perked up from the comic he had been reading, “Though you two were getting bullied in the bathroom,” he teased.

Eddie hated how cute Richie looked in those stupid hipster glasses and the slightly oversized deep blue sweater he wore, the sleeves were pushed up to his elbows, he wore a thin leather bracelet and beaded bracelet on his left wrist, he wore his normal black skinny jeans and black checkered Vans; he was cute and Eddie hated it, because he was supposed to be wary of Richie, but all he wanted to do was kiss him.

Stan huffed at Richie’s words, but other than that, didn’t get further provoked.

Richie glanced at Eddie winked before turning around as the final bell rang for class.

Eddie just sank into his seat.

~~~

The rest of the day went quickly, lunch, despite having to fork over money to Ben and Beverly, while Bill watched them, practically scandalized, it took them a frozen fudge pop to get Bill to even talk to them during the rest of lunch; it was a pretty prissy, Stanley Uris move to pull.

Stan had immediately tried to glare Richie into ashes, while the rest of the Losers tried to stifle their snickers, and Stan had demanded how Richie would even know that, since he had only known them for only a couple months.

Richie had answered with a somewhat eerie grin, “I’ve got a pretty good read on people.”

After that, the group moved onto other topics.

Eddie had been toying with Richie’s pale piano fingers when it dawned on him that it didn’t feel like Richie’s hand had been stuck in the freezer, “You’re still warm,” he said absentmindedly, looking at his boyfriend, who was reading over Ben’s shoulder about some plant museum attraction in New York.

“Hm, yea? Don’t get too used to it,” Richie turned his head to look at him with a small grin. “It fluctuates a lot,” he shrugged before linking his fingers with Eddie’s and went back to reading with Ben.

“That’s what he said,” Beverly teased, green eyes twinkling.

“Oooh, stooping to my level, Marsh?” Richie chuckled and heard Ben sigh at him.

“You’re a horrible influence,” Ben muttered, but waited until Richie was done reading the page he had been on before turning the page when Richie nodded at him.

Eddie still thought it was a little odd, because Richie didn’t look as pale as he usually did, his boyfriend had a pinkish glow to his cheeks, his eyes weren’t practically black and when Eddie idly traced the faint veins in Richie’s wrist, they looked more like the normal purplish-blue than just gray.

The fixation of this alarmed Eddie a little, but even before, Eddie thought that Richie was sometimes too still, it hardly looked like he breathed, while he didn’t look almost deathly ill, Richie did get a doubletake here and there from curious gazes.

He felt almost paranoid, because of sudden change of his mother’s behavior and how Richie felt livelier, and Eddie felt like he was losing his mind or somehow had fallen into an alternative reality.

Eddie nearly jumped out of his skin when the shrill bell rang, dismissing them from lunch and he saw that Richie was giving him a worried look, “Um, spaced out for a minute,” he said quickly and hastily untangled himself from Richie. “Remembered that I have to do something for Spanish, I’ll see you in study hall,” with that, Eddie was out the door.

Richie watched him go with a frown, he saw that Stan was even giving him a funny look, “What was that about?” he asked.

Stan averted his gaze, “Dunno, man, Eddie is just a spaz sometimes, figured you knew that by now,” his grin was a little stiff on his face.

The taller boy regarded Bill, Beverly, and Ben, the trio were waiting for the, but were talking normally to each other; Richie slid his gaze back over to Stan, who was sliding his backpack on, actively avoiding Richie’s gaze and Richie narrowed his eyes just a little before making himself relax; he’d get it sorted.

~~~

By the middle of the week, Eddie felt like himself again; he stopped trying to stress out about the minor gap about Saturday to Sunday, he actually started to enjoy that his mother had just done a complete 180 of her personality, because it meant that he could have his friends over, which, they were all weirded out at first, but soon had adjusted to Sonia’s change in behavior.

The best part though was that he could have Richie over at any time he wanted and his mother didn’t even make a fuss, not even when it was getting late on a school night, there wasn’t even a peep when Eddie had dragged Richie upstairs after dinner and closed the bedroom door behind him.

Richie flopped back against the blankets and eyed Eddie up slowly, “Are you finally calming down?” he mused. He grinned almost sharply when Eddie moved to straddle his waist, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“I still don’t know what you did, but whatever, the space is nice to have,” Eddie replied. He leaned down to kiss Richie and felt his larger hands move to rest on his waist, “Sure you don’t want me to get you anything though?” he asked when he pulled back, the warmth lingered on his lips and Eddie’s toes curled in anticipation when he felt Richie move under him.

“I’m good,” Richie’s words were a little strained, his fingers coiled around the sides of Eddie’s shirt. He bit at his bottom lip, slowly trailing his gaze up to meet Eddie’s eyes, “You look nice like this,” Richie arched his eyebrow and licked his lips.

Eddie rolled off Richie with a scoff, flopping next to Richie, their shoulders were a bit painfully smushed together, but neither of them seemed to mind. Eddie stared up at his ceiling, “Tomorrow, we should go to Dollar General,” he said randomly.

“Okay?” Richie made it sound like a question, turning his head to look at Eddie.

“Because you’re right, my ceiling is pretty fucking boring, some glow in the dark stars would be nice,” Eddie said, remembering what Richie had said, even if he had probably been a little high at the time.

“You remember that?” Richie asked, sounding truly shocked.

“Yea, why wouldn’t I?” Eddie replied, looking at Richie and thought he looked even prettier up close; he thought he saw Richie’s cheeks tinge pink, which was odd, since his boyfriend didn’t seem to get flustered at all.

“Dunno,” Richie shrugged, looking back up at the plain, white ceiling again. “Just something weird I had said.”

“Not that weird,” Eddie smiled, “it made me think that it would give my room some…personality, make it actually feel like my room.”

Richie turned on his side, “You’re bright, Eddie,” his voice was sincere. He glanced over his shoulder, “You could make it nice in here, your own space to come home to, not some caged box that your mom made for you when you were a baby.”

Eddie hummed, his eyes watering a bit, “You know, I never thought of it as that,” his voice wobbled a little. “I just always thought she was protecting me, I never thought she’d lie about made up illnesses to keep me trapped here.”

“She won’t do that anymore,” Richie’s voice was oddly fierce, so sure that it had caught Eddie’s attention.

“You sure you didn’t kidnap my actual mom and replace her with a clone?” Eddie asked him, but his tone was light with amusement. He saw Richie’s small smile, but the glimmer didn’t match in his eyes and for a moment, Eddie felt afraid, but within that same second, Richie’s hand was cupping his face, his touch wasn’t as warm, a bit cooler and Eddie wondered if Richie’s temperature was dropping again, “You’re starting to feel cold again,” he murmured.

“It happens,” Richie replied, his eyes slid shut as he leaned into kiss Eddie, feeling his boyfriend response hesitantly, because of where they were. He rolled the shorter onto his back, looming over him, “You don’t have to be nervous,” his voice was quiet.

“She’s just down the stairs,” Eddie warned, but his voice was just as quiet, he was shaking a little, still tense as Richie leaned back over him again, feeling one strong hand run down his side before those deft, slender fingers gripped kindly at his narrow hip, bunching up his shirt. 

Richie’s lips ghosted by his ear, he felt Eddie tremble at that, “You worry too much,” he murmured, pressing his lips to the strong pulsing point of Eddie’s throat, he grinned when he felt it flutter a tad faster. He breathed in slowly, Richie restrained from tracing the fluttering pulse with his tongue, and instead, traced the soft, delicate skin with the tip of his nose before coming back up to kiss Eddie once again and this time Eddie matched his careful enthusiasm, feeling Eddie’s fingers coil into his hair.

When they had parted Eddie’s face was rosy, Richie’s was just a pale shade of pink, but to Eddie it was vas improvement, he was about to lean his head up and kiss Richie again when he saw a flicker of annoyance cross his boyfriend’s face and Eddie was about to ask what the matter was when there was a soft knock on his bedroom door.

Eddie hastily pushed at Richie’s shoulders and barely managed to sit up before his mother was poking her head in, “Y-yes, mom?” Eddie practically squeaked, he had somewhat yanked his blanket to cover up his lap; this was the _last_ think he wanted his mom to know.

Richie was already off the bed before Sonia had come in the room, he was smoothing down his shirt and didn’t bother to acknowledge Sonia, he vaguely paid attention to her asking if Eddie wanted anything to snack on and heard Eddie’s polite decline, Richie couldn’t stop the soft laugh that escaped him when Eddie’s voice still seemed too squeaky.

With that, Sonia left the two boys again, but Richie wasn’t going to continue anything and while Eddie could be somewhat brave with what he wanted, he was still shy and Richie didn’t want to accidentally hurt Eddie.

Relationships were still new to Richie also, he didn’t sometimes get a clear grasp of what a normal relationship was, given what he was and the fact that he had spent the majority of his life in isolation with is family, but it didn’t take much for him to figure out that Eddie would probably want _more_.

Eddie raised an eyebrow when Richie was standing still as a statue, “How are you traumatized in this situation when it was my mother who almost walked in on us?”

“Who says I traumatized and that I don’t have an almost getting caught kink?” Richie asked and licked his lips. He saw how warm Eddie’s face shade and Richie laughed and easily caught the pillow Eddie threw at him.

“We’re doing _nothing_ of that sort,” Eddie scowled, even if his face remained pink.

Well, that was fine with Richie, sine that would give him some time to figure that aspect of their relationship out first, before he did something that he’d regret almost immediately.

The pause after Eddie’s statement must have been too long, because Eddie suddenly looked worried, “I-I mean, it’s not that I d-don’t think about us like…like _that_, but—”

“Jesus, Eds, _breathe_,” Richie frowned as Eddie seemed to stammer more than get air in and out of his lungs. “It’s really not a big deal,” he promised. “I don’t mind having our relationship just like this, it works for the both of us, I’m comfortable if you’re comfortable, I’m happy if you’re happy.”

That seemed to calm Eddie down, but he was still blushing furiously and he seemed to glower at his fisted hands that clutched his blanket, “B-but what if we decide to…to have…”

Eddie was still so shy and embarrassed to even _voice_ it, let alone think about it; he was going to be 18 next year and he got clammy at the idea of having sex, when most of his peers probably already have done it.

Richie’s expression softened, “Really, Eddie, a good relationship isn’t rushed and if it feels right in the moment, then that’s fine and we’ll deal with everything else step by step,” he soothed. 

“Sorry—”

“Never apologize to me over something like this, Eddie,” Richie cut him off. He leaned over to kiss Eddie’s forehead. “I literally could wait forever for you and believe me, the occasional blue balls won’t kill me, believe it or not,” he mused.

Eddie wrinkled his nose, “No wonder the girls are jealous of me.”

“Oh?” Richie’s eyes seemed to twinkle. “Well, as _nice_ as they sound, I have my sights set on only one,” he sighed wistfully.

Eddie’s stomach felt fluttery.

“May as well start calling me dad, Eds, your mom is one exquisite creature and I plan to marry that,” Richie couldn’t stop the laughter erupting from him as Eddie had lunged at him and Richie squirmed as Eddie’s grabbed his sides.

“Oh, stop faking it, I know you’re not ticklish,” Eddie grumbled, pulling back to grumpily sit on the edge of his bed. He sulked up at Richie and went to turn his head away when Richie tried to kiss him.

“Hey,” Richie’s voice was soft, his eyes were glimmering with much more genuine emotion, “you’re it and that’s all I want,” Richie added; words like those were usually so feeble and overused, especially in young relationships, but Richie felt it that Eddie was going to be the only one in his life that he could possibly love so intimately.

Eddie felt the annoyance rush out of him as quickly as it came, he wordlessly wrapped Richie into a tight hug, burying his face against Richie’s abdomen, “Good, because I don’t think that anyone else could handle me.”

“Fine by me,” Richie smiled.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O, hai *flees*

“We need to talk,” Mike said to the ground, he had come up the stairs looking grim.

Eddie glanced up from his phone to look at Mike, all of the Losers were at the loft, since it was Friday, but Richie was the only one not there, he had left before lunch, his mother had an incident and Eddie was worried; he didn’t want to barge over to Richie’s unannounced.

“My uncle was in town, apparently Bowers has gone missing,” Mike informed them.

Bill raised an eyebrow, “And th-that’s a b-bad thing?” he asked his boyfriend.

None of the Losers looked too upset about that information.

Mike sighed, “I know he was a horrible person to all of us, but one of his…friends came to me, asking if I knew anything.”

It was probably Victor or Belch, Eddie thought, since he thought that those two were probably the most normal out of Henry and Patrick, they mostly just followed out of fear, which was sad, because they were 20.

“And?” Stan asked flatly, his impassive stare hadn’t changed, it was clear he could have given less than a fuck what happened to Henry or any of his friends.

Mike looked to Eddie, “He said that Henry and Patrick had chased after Eddie through the town’s park, Patrick came back, but Bowers didn’t,” his eyes gauged Eddie’s reaction, which he saw that the shorter boy looked confused.

The group looked at Eddie for confirmation.

Eddie frowned, “What are you talking about?”

Stan even looked confused, “That can’t be, because Richie told me he picked up Eddie after he left my place,” he was trying to get a reaffirming answer out of his friend.

“He must have gotten Eddie confused with another person,” Beverly shrugged. “Those assholes aren’t known for intelligence, they’re more like hunting dogs; they attack whatever they see.”

Ben was agreeing with that.

“I just thought it was weird that’s all,” Mike shrugged. “You’re sure you didn’t see either of them, Eddie?”

“Yea,” Eddie replied, even though he was drawing up blanks after leaving Stan’s house. He looked at Stan, “I mean, did you see them outside?” he asked Stan.

Stan shook his head, “I didn’t see anyone when you had left.”

It didn’t help that Mike even looked doubtful. He gave Eddie a schooled look, “Do you think Richie would know anything?”

“Doubt it, he doesn’t really pay attention to people,” Eddie replied evenly. He didn’t think Mike sounded accusing, but he really didn’t like the suspicious gleam in Mike’s eyes.

“Sure, just ask him the next time you see him,” Mike shrugged and went to sit next to Bill on the futon. He smiled as Bill curled under his arm and nuzzled his cheek lightly against the top of Bill’s downy hair, “You gonna come back over tomorrow for dinner?”

“Depends, is your uncle gonna make dinner?” Bill asked, batting his eyelashes sweetly up at Mike before chuckling at how ridiculous he must have looked, but Mike just pinched his nose gently.

“Of Course,” Mike beamed as he linked his and Bill’s fingers together. "He's protective of his stove."

“Guess I am then,” Bill replied.

Eddie wondered if that’s how he and Richie looked from the outside perspective, he was glancing around at Beverly and Ben, watching her doodle flowers on Ben’s inner wrist, and Stan was quietly reading at the table, studying for his mid-December finals, which were still a month away.

It made him miss that he was missing such a cozy moment here with his boyfriend and much to his embarrassment, he couldn’t hold back from texting him, asking him how his mom was, how he and his sister were.

He was surprised at how quickly Richie responded, telling Eddie that his mom was stable, Kimmy was…handling it, and Richie was avoiding the question for himself and Eddie didn’t want to push it; he had never dealt with this side of Richie before.

Eddie chewed at his bottom lip, wondering how to reply to Richie’s text.

Stan looked up when he heard Eddie sigh, “Bad news?” he asked gently when he saw that Eddie was still looking at his phone, the light of the phone putting a glow on his face.

“Uh, his mom is doing fine, Kimmy is okay,” Eddie replied. He sighed quietly in annoyance, “He doesn’t really like talking about his own wellbeing though…”

“W-well, if h-he’s up f-for it, in-invite him over!” Bill smiled.

“It’s movie night,” Beverly reminded Eddie.

Stan closed his book and looked at Eddie with a gentle smile, “A marathon of Star Wars, I’m sure that could coax him over.”

Eddie chewed at his bottom lip nervously, “I don’t want to take him from his mom’s side though, but I’ll text him,” he replied and carefully worded his message. He hesitated a moment before tapping the send button and nervously put his phone back on the table.

“It’s not being insensitive,” Ben said to Eddie when he could read that Eddie looked uneasy. “You’re just giving him an out, I imagine the nurses there wouldn’t leave his mom’s side for the rest of the night and there’s no sense for him to worry himself sick.”

“I guess you’re right,” Eddie still seemed unhappy about the whole thing. He practically jumped out of his skin when his phone lit up and he swiped to unlock his phone (he didn’t need a passcode anymore, since his mom backed off) and quickly read that Richie would be over in ten.

“I’m guessing he’s coming over,” Stan’s smile was somewhat smirky.

“Shut up,” Eddie’s face went pink. “He’s never been over before!” he huffed and quickly looked over to Mike. “That’s okay though? If he comes over?” he asked his friend.

It looked like Mike was a little conflicted and he felt guilty when Bill was giving him a puzzled look, “I mean…I don’t care, but I’m sure my uncle won’t be too happy,” Mike frowned.

“Richie hasn’t done _anything_ wrong,” Eddie felt himself getting a little riled up.

Mike raised his hands in a non-threatening gesture, “I believe you, Eddie, but he can’t go anywhere else on the farm other than the loft…for his own safety.”

“Would your uncle hurt him?” Ben asked him worriedly.

“I don’t think so,” Mike replied, but his words were uncertain. “Just keep him inside the loft, Eddie.”

It made Eddie bristle that Richie was sort of being treated like a pet, but he wasn’t upset with Mike, he understood that he was just being cautious, because whatever beef his uncle had with the Toziers, it wasn’t going away any time soon.

~~~

Almost exactly ten minutes later, the Losers heard Richie’s car driving over the dirt and gravel before coming to a stop. Eddie all about leapt up and out of his chair, he tried to play it cool by casually walking down the stairs, but he still heard Beverly’s soft snickering.

There was a soft knock on the wooden door that was next to giant barndoors that were shut and Eddie opened it, seeing Richie made Eddie instantly looked relaxed; he looked ethereal in the setting sun.

“Hey,” Richie’s smile was kind, but there was a certain hardness to his eyes that didn’t make him look as relaxed as he was trying to pull off.

Eddie took Richie’s hands into his own, “Are you going to be okay?” he whispered, looking up into Richie’s eyes and finally, something came to the surface in those depthless eyes, but it made Eddie’s heartstrings yank in sympathy when Richie hastily ducked his head to avert his gaze; it was _grief._

Eddie hastily nudged Richie back, he could feel the curious stares from the upper floor, but Eddie could only focus on Richie. He had his boyfriend outside before he was gently, yet firmly pulling Richie down into a hug, practically cradling Richie’s head to his neck and Eddie felt a cool, wetness touching the skin of his throat and it made Eddie squeeze Richie tighter to him, as if he were trying to absorb the pain from the marrow of Richie.

Strong, lithe fingers curled into the back of Eddie’s jacket as Richie stood there, shivering with silent sobs as he practically dissolved into Eddie’s warm, quiet comfort. Richie let out a soft huff after a few minutes, before slowly pulling away, but he quickly rubbed at his eyes with his knuckles, “Sorry,” he whispered.

“Don’t be sorry for something like this, Rich, I can’t imagine what you’re going through,” Eddie murmured; his own throat burned with the urge to cry with Richie. He cupped Richie’s face with his hands, he was seeing Richie vulnerable this time, Richie looked much like the kid he was _supposed_ to be, instead of having to grown up and look over his terminally ill mother and little sister.

Richie’s shoulders slumped, “I just…I haven’t felt this weak in a long time,” his words were sharp. He shakily exhaled, hastily blinking away the remaining tears that still lingered in his eyelashes, “I know my mom will be fine, it just sucks that I can’t do anything,” he gritted out and pulled away from Eddie’s hold.

Eddie lowered his arms back to his sides as he continued to look Richie directly in the eye, he saw the anguish there, “Crying doesn’t make you weak, Richie. You love your mother, it’s only natural to feel concern for her.”

“All I do is worry,” Richie scowled. He took a calming breath, “We shouldn’t keep the others waiting, they probably thinking that we’re fucking in my jeep or something.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, “You sure have some fragility there when it involves your emotions,” he pointed out. He heard Richie scoff at that, “What? Then prove me wrong.”

“I don’t have a problem with expressing my emotions, Eds, I just don’t want to bother you with what my issues are,” Richie explained. He saw that Eddie didn’t look convinced, “I don’t want to talk about this right now when we’re literally about to watch movies with the others.”

“Fine,” Eddie was reluctant to table the conversation, but he wasn’t about to push at it. He watched with unease as Richie seemed to easily put on a happy persona; he wondered how often Richie did this.

Richie laced his fingers with Eddie’s, “So, are we starting the with prequels and working towards the originals?” he asked.

“How do you watch them?” Eddie raised an eyebrow as he led the way into the barn.

“Prequels, Rogue One, and then the originals,” Richie stated it as if it were obvious.

Eddie hummed thoughtfully, “I don’t think I’ve ever watched Rogue One before.”

Richie let out a scandalized gasp and practically sprinted up the stairs, dragging Eddie along, “Stanley Uris, you never made Eddie watch Rogue One?” he demanded as soon as he reached the top and pinned the blonde with a wounded look.

Stan shrugged, “Eddie’s pretty evasive when it comes to Star Wars culture. He usually falls asleep or is one his phone the entire time,” he defended himself.

Richie whipped back around to a sheepish looking Eddie, he walked over to a giant beanbag chair, coiled himself around Eddie and dropped back onto the squishy chair, laughing at Eddie’s startled yelp, “Prequels, Rogue One, and then originals,” he listed off as he squeezed his arms around Eddie to keep him properly trapped on his lap.

Ben gawked, “Why did I never think to watch Rogue One after the originals? It literally ends leading into _A New Hope_.”

“Can we watch the new generation too?” Beverly asked.

“Hell yea,” Bill smiled. He scrambled to get up, which was a bit difficult to do as Mike was clinging onto him and Bill chuckled when Mike pouted up at him, “It’ll only b-be a s-second!”

“I guess I’ll make popcorn,” Mike said as he pulled himself up and headed to the microwave and basket that held individual packs of popcorn in it.

“Kettle corn kind, or you have no soul,” Eddie declared, he felt Richie’s laugh shake him a little. “Which kind do you prefer?”

Richie shrugged indifferently, “Braces broke me from most joyous things, like popcorn, gum, bread, tacos, I lived a miserable 3 years. I don’t really eat that stuff anymore even after I got my braces off.”

“How do you live?!” Ben asked, gawking at Richie as if he were some foreign creature.

Richie shrugged, “I’m a bit of a parasite,” he answered easily with a sly smile.

Mike dropped the basket.

Eddie jumped at the noise, “You good, Mike?”

“Y-yea,” Mike shakily responded. “Butter fingers…”

“Told you just plain buttered popcorn was disgusting and just _greasy_,” Eddie huffed at his friends.

“Babe, kettle corn is just a type of flavored butter too,” Richie reminded and laughed when Eddie pinched his arm. He easily kept Eddie caged in his arms when his boyfriend tried to wriggle around to get free, “You’re my captive for the rest of the night,” he playfully growled against Eddie’s neck, listening to Eddie giggle. 

When he had pulled away, he looked up and saw that Mike was watching him, holding a bowl of popcorn, Richie saw that Mike was eyeing him and Eddie, Richie tilted his head to the side curiously, before giving him a sharp smile, not even bothering to hide his fangs.

“You just gonna stand there all night, Mike?” Beverly’s voice broke the spell. She was leaning against Ben and making ‘gimme-gimme’ hands at the popcorn Mike had made.

Mike jerked his attention away from Richie, especially when Eddie had turned his head to nuzzle his cheek up against Richie’s, the paler boy was still smiling, but it wasn’t the taunting one this time, Richie kissed Eddie’s cheeks before slumping back against the beanbag chair, taking Eddie with him.

Bill couldn’t help but also glance back at Richie when Mike kept glancing back at the couple, he gave his boyfriend a slight questioning look, “You okay?” he whispered.

“Yea, Mike nodded, he made himself relax and gave Bill a gentle look. “I’m good, are you good?” he asked, kissing Bill’s forehead.

“Peachy,” Bill chuckled. “Now, where’s _my_ popcorn?”

“I got it!” Eddie chirped. “Mike forgot all the rest of us,” he said, escaping Richie’s hold and went back over to the mini snack table. 

“Hit me with the good stuff, Eddie,” Bill smirked.

“Oh, _I’m _good all right,” Eddie mused and heard his friends giggling in amusement. He stood at the microwave as it popped, hearing shuffling from over by the projector, Stan must have been setting up the movie because Eddie could hear him grumbling softly.

When he finished making popcorn for everyone and then himself, he tossed each person a bag, listening to them screech in terror, because fresh microwaved butter was not something you wanted on your skin.

Eddie plopped back into Richie lap and snagged the blanket from the basket near him and draped it over himself, cuddling back up against Richie; already, he could feel his eyelids starting to droop.

“You’re totally gonna fall asleep, aren’t you?” Richie asked him, even though it said as a statement. He playfully squeezed at Eddie’s sides when his boyfriend responded with an unapologetic hum of joy, “One day I’ll corrupt you to the geek side.”

“Can’t wait,” Eddie replied, nuzzling his face against Richie’s shoulder. He felt Richie shifting somewhat, laying back further and Eddie was almost completely laying overtop Richie, but it wasn’t uncomfortable; he just adjusted his head a bit, tucking it under Richie’s chin and let his eyes fall shut and fell asleep to Ben and Stan’s cheering, jolting somewhat at the loud orchestra of the opening music.

Richie had giggled at that, “Scare you?”

“No,” Eddie denied. He sighed happily as Richie traced random patterns across his back over his shirt, he kissed Richie’s collar and let himself nod back off; he didn’t even notice the silence under him, despite being draped across Richie’s chest.

~~~

Mike made a large breakfast for them all that following morning, fresh eggs, bacon, toast and churned butter, with orange juice or milk, whichever they preferred.

Bill promised to help with the dishes and Ben said he’d be on the drying duty.

While the rest of them cleaned up with folding up blankets and extra pillows and storing them in the linen closets that Mike and one of his cousins had made with him when the loft was being made.

Richie and Eddie obviously paired together, holding each corner of the blanket and walking towards each other and repeated the action until Richie could take the blanket and finish folding it, before Eddie grabbed it and neatly placed it in one of the linen closets.

Beverly and Stan did the same, and uncapped the air-mattresses, folding the blankets as they waited. Stan collected the popcorn bowls, murmuring he was going to feed the uneaten kernels and remaining bits of popcorn to the kitchens, Beverly raced after him, wanting to feed them too.

Richie draped himself dramatically over one of the air-mattresses to push more of the air out and grunted when Eddie flopped on top of him, “You could just replace your bed at home with me, seeing as I seem to be your favorite place to sleep,” his grin was sleezy, which faded when he laughed as Eddie scoffed at him.

“You’re all bones and sharp angles,” Eddie retorted, crossing his arms; despite that, he was still straddling Richie’s hips. “You gotta put some squish on your body if you want to be my bed.”

“I always knew you were going to be a pillow princess,” Richie teased. “Make me do all the work as you just lie back and—”

Eddie’s eyes flared, as he pulled Richie’s hood of his hoodie over his head and yanked the drawstrings, effectively shutting his boyfriend up. He almost went to bat away Richie’s hands from freeing himself, but felt himself laughing when Richie’s face emerged from the darkness; he fixed Richie’s hair that got messy from pushing the hood back.

“Chow’s on!” Mike shouted loud enough for Beverly and Stan to hear him from outside.

Richie sat up carefully, “I’ll finish up here, you should go eat,” he said, lightly pushing Eddie up.

“Want anything in particular for breakfast?” Eddie asked as he got to his feet.

Richie’s eyes almost sparkled with mischievousness, but he shook his head, “I gotta head out. I want to go see how my mom is doing,” he responded as he started to carefully roll up the now deflated air-mattress.

Eddie gave him a sympathetic look, “Will you text me if she’s okay?”

“Of course,” Richie responded. He stood up with the rolled air-mattress under his arm to kiss Eddie on the top of his head, “I am sorry for ditching so early though.”

“You don’t have to apologize, it’s your mom, Rich,” Eddie reminded him. He took the air-mattress, “If I don’t see you later or tomorrow, see you Monday?” he tilted his head in question.

Richie nodded, “I’m trying not to fail out of school from missing so many days, when this is my first year at public school,” he mused. “I’ll see you later,” Richie winked and said goodbye to the others.

“You’re leaving already?” Ben asked with a small frown.

Beverly was gesturing to an empty plate for the taller boy to take, “Mike’s breakfast game is fucking killer, Rich, you’re missing out!”

Bill was nodding in agreement, “A-at least st-stay for coffee?”

Stan even seemed to sulk a bit.

Richie rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck, “Sorry, guys, really,” he apologized meekly. “I’ve gotta go home, check on my mom, and I don’t really like having Kims stay home alone when our mom is unwell.”

Mike was giving him a curious look at that, but didn’t say anything.

“I hope they’re both all right,” came Stan’s soft voice as he looked at Richie understandingly.

“Thanks, they will be,” Richie seemed to reassure himself. “I’ll catch you losers later,” he teased, giving one intentional wink at Eddie before practically bouncing down the stairs and headed outside.

Eddie watched him go from over the loft railing and stood there for several minutes before remembering to put away the air-mattress and hurried back to the table where Beverly was giving him an amused look as she passed him over a plate.

“Don’t look so heartbroken,” Beverly teased. “It’ll unfortunately be Monday before you know it, if you don’t get to see him later or tomorrow.”

Eddie hated that it seemed he was so transparent with his friends, more so with Beverly, she could always pick up what anyone felt it seemed; he mostly was just afraid that he was coming off too clingy.

“Hurry and g-get e-eating,” Bill chided. “Mike p-promised to sh-show us the baby d-deer he’s t-taking care of!”

“Cool it, Snow White,” Beverly rolled her eyes. 

Eddie snickered quietly, but part of him still wished that Richie could have been there to come with them, he told himself there was always next time, and that Richie needed to be with his remaining family.

“You can go ahead without me, I know where to go,” Eddie told Bill. He could see Stan looked eager to go too, “I’ll catch up.”

“If you’re sure,” Mike frowned a little. “We’re taking the truck back.”

“A little walk never hurt me,” Eddie mused.

“We’ll walk back with him,” Beverly said when she saw that Ben was still eating too; they were the last to grab breakfast.

“We’ll see you there,” Stan replied and followed after Bill down the stairs.

Mike smiled to them, “After that, I’ll take you guys to see the new baby sheep.”

Eddie smiled brightly; he loved seeing the sheep.

They three chorused that they’d see them in a few before hurrying up to finish eating and clean and put their dishes away.

Beverly had just gotten up with her plate when she heard the door open and she walked over to the railing, “Did you guys forget—”

Eddie and Ben both looked at her when she cut herself off with a gasp.

Ben stood up about to ask what the matter was and he froze too, he was staring at Patrick and Belch, standing inside the barn and Patrick was holding a gun.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!!! Descriptive death, gun violence, character murder, blood, and blood drinking
> 
> Annnnnnd it kicks off!

Eddie froze at the sight of the two and his heart was hammering in fear when he saw the weapon in Patrick’s hand; he felt like he was going to have a panic attack when Patrick looked right at him, and he saw Ben practically push Beverly behind him.

“_You_,” Patrick sneered, his black eyes narrowed at Eddie. “You chickenshit, little bitch!” he shouted, stalking forward to the loft stairs.

Belch followed after the skinner male, uncertainty on his face as he looked among the three others at the top before looking forward where he walked.

Beverly reached for her phone with shaking, yet quick hands and heard Patrick shout at her, causing her to freeze up in terror. She looked at Patrick, the young man was glaring at her.

“If you try to call for help, I’ll kill you,” Patrick threatened her. He leveled his gaze back onto Eddie, “Kaspbrak, I have some questions for you,” he said through practically gritted teeth.

“Leave him alone!” Ben snapped, flinching when Patrick threateningly lifted his hand that held the gun.

“What do you want?” Eddie asked, his voice was weak and he was sure he was still shaking, but he was too numbed with fear to feel it. He saw how hostile Patrick looked and he was scared, because what had he done to piss him off?

“What the fuck did you do to Henry?” Patrick demanded.

Eddie gave him a confused look, “What do you mean?”

“Stop playing stupid Kaspbrak!” Belch snapped, his round face was starting to turn red.

Eddie saw that Belch seemed to be giving him a somewhat pleading look and he looked back at Patrick, “If I knew anything about him, I would have told you!” he exclaimed.

Beverly looking at Eddie worriedly, “Why do you think that Eddie had something to with Henry going missing?”

“Because we were chasing after Kaspbrak,” Patrick sneered. “Leaving Uris’ stupid house, looking like a fairy waiting to be beaten!”

“What are you talking about?” Eddie’s head was spinning; he would have remembered running away from Bowers and Hockstetter if they had come after him.

“Don’t you two have anything better to do than harass kids?”

The three friends gawked when Richie was suddenly there behind Belch, they watched Richie shove Belch down the stairs before lashing out towards Patrick, a hand around his throat, slamming him against the nearest wall, which caused the other dark-haired boy to drop the gun, luckily, it hadn’t gone off.

Richie then shoved Patrick away from him, he didn’t see Patrick catch himself on the railing, Richie only had eyes for Eddie. He hurried over to his boyfriend, “Are you all right?” he whispered, cupping Eddie’s face.

“I thought we were going to die,” Eddie shakily replied, his voice was faint.

Richie frowned and pulled Eddie into his arms before he looked at Beverly and Ben, “Are either of you hurt?” he asked them.

They both shook their heads.

“How’d you know that they were here?” Ben asked him, fear, yet astonishment was shining in his brown eyes as he stared at Richie with disbelief.

“Passed them on the road leaving Mike’s, I didn’t realize it was them until I remember that stupid car,” Richie scowled.

They all froze when they heard the gun cock.

Patrick was standing back on the stairs again, pointing the gun at Richie, who was leering at him over his shoulder, “Henry spoke about you,” he growled, “about how much of a freak you are!”

Richie let go of Eddie and turned slowly, a passive look on his face, “You don’t want to do this, Hockstetter,” his voice was smooth, yet threatening. He saw the rage in Patrick’s eyes, “Or, maybe you do…” he muttered, he felt Eddie’s hands shaking as his fingers dug into the material of his hoodie.

“You’ve had to have been there,” Patrick scowled. “Henry told me all about all the fairy things you two were up to!”

Richie rolled his eyes, “Are we still trapped in the 80s?” he drawled. He then gave Patrick a sharp look, “Not that you can judge,” he mused, “I know _all _about you and Bowers,” Richie sing-songed, practically rocking on his heels.

“Shut the fuck up!” Patrick snarled, pointing his gun at Richie.

“Richie!” Beverly hissed, tears had sprung in her eyes and she felt Ben holding her back.

Richie cocked his head, “What? Are you pissed because you couldn’t have a happy relationship?” he asked, but the sneer on his face was vicious.

The three friends behind Richie looked at each other in bewilderment.

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Patrick shouted, trembling with anger.

“Because it was already bad enough that you’ve got it _hard_ for the homophobic sheriff’s son,” Richie sneered, stepping forward, “but nothing hurt more than the fact that Henry wanted _nothing _to do with you.”

“I will _kill_ you, Tozier,” Patrick’s voice was quiet, but shaking with rage.

Richie sized him up with a scoff, looking unimpressed, “You think that’ll have Henry get on his knees for you?” he taunted. The smirk on his face was practically feral and he heard Eddie whisper his name fearfully, but Richie had his gaze locked on his prey in front of him. “You can’t save him, Pattie, because he’s dead,” his grin was jeering.

Patrick let out an outraged shout and pulled the trigger, the echoing of the gunshot drowned out the screams of Eddie, Beverly, and Ben.

~~~

The baby deer that Stan had been feeding apple slices to looked up, ears twitching in fright before it hobbled up on three legs, since it's other back-leg was curled up against its side, and limped away to the hut that Mike had constructed for it.

The three looked up in fright when they heard the distant gunshot, but it couldn’t have been from a different property and Stan looked at Mike worriedly, “That sounded too close.”

“The barn,” Mike whispered, he took off towards his truck, Bill and Stan hauling ass after him. He practically launched himself into the driver’s seat as the other two jumped into the bed of the truck and threw his truck in gear, the tires kicking up mud as he pealed out of the woods.

Bill had practically threw himself on top of Stan to stop the curly haired boy from falling out and clung onto the bungie-cords that were tied down into the bed of the truck. 

Mike made it back to the barn in record time, he saw two familiar cars; Richie’s jeep and that blue sportscar. He threw open the driver door, he skidded by the back of the truck, “You two stay here, call the police!”

Bill gave him a shaken look, “N-no re-reception,” he shakily said as he looked at his phone, Stan was having the same problem.

Mike gritted his teeth, “Shit,” he hissed and shook his head before running to the door of the barn that was cracked and he peeked inside, he could hear Eddie screaming Richie’s name, but couldn’t see either of them and he saw Patrick skinny figure looming on the stairs, he saw Belch at the foot of the stairs, neck at a clearly broken angle, his eyes were still open and Mike felt bile building up in his throat. 

Mike jumped when someone was suddenly at his shoulder and saw it was Bill and he saw his boyfriend was staring inside the barn with a shocked expression, “Bill, go back to the truck.”

Bill was about to reply when he heard Eddie’s sobs and Bill didn’t even hesitate, he shot inside, hearing Mike shout for him, Bill was screaming angrily as he shot up the stairs, catching Patrick off guard and tackled the other man down, they both slid into the kitchen table and chairs.

Mike told Stan to stay where he was before hurrying inside and jumped over Belch’s body, taking the stairs up two at a time before running over to Bill and Ben, the other boy had raced over as soon as Patrick had flipped over and socked Bill in the jaw.

“M-Mike!” Eddie wept when he saw his friend, he and Beverly were knelt next to Richie, Eddie had taken off his sweater and was holding it to Richie’s chest. He shakily looked back down, he didn’t look at Richie’s face that had gone pale and lifeless.

All Eddie kept seeing was Richie dropping to the ground, a wet gasp leaving his lips, eyes squeezing shut in pain before going limp on the ground, there wasn’t much blood, which Eddie thought was odd, but he was still scared out of his mind. Eddie was still shaking Richie, “Wake up, wake _up_,” he pleaded.

Beverly had tears running down her face, “Eddie,” she whispered. “Honey, he’s…he’s dead,” she croaked. She shakily took Eddie’s hands into her own and she saw his soft brown eyes fill up with fresh tears, her bottom lip trembled.

The three boys managed to restrain Patrick, who was shouting angrily, trying to get free and got stunned by Bill kicking him in the face.

Stan was standing over Richie, a hand covering his mouth as his other hand pushed back his curls from his eyes staring down at Richie with tears in his eyes, “What do we do?” he whispered. He looked at Eddie, “What do we tell his mom?” Stan sobbed.

Ben was grabbing Beverly, helping her up to her feet, but she still clung to Eddie and pulled him next to her and her boyfriend. Ben was wiping at his eyes, he then looked at Mike, “Your uncle still has a landline, right?” his voice was watery.

Mike nodded grimly, he looked down at Richie, “We can still save him,” he said and then cut his gaze over to where Patrick was. He strode over to the drawer closest to him and ripped it open and grabbed a paring knife and then grabbed Patrick by the back of the jacket he wore and dragged him over to where Richie was.

“Mike wh-what are you d-doing?” Bill asked his boyfriend worriedly.

Eddie was giving Mike a confused look, “What the fuck are you doing?!” he shrilled when he was putting Patrick’s lolling head over Richie’s face, he saw Mike wrinkle his nose and look up before putting the knife to Patrick’s throat.

“Don’t let me be fucking wrong,” Mike swore before ripping the blade across Patrick’s throat.

The rest of his friends screamed in shock.

Eddie gagged when he watched the blood splash across Richie’s pale face and he turned his wide eyes to Mike, “What the fuck are you doing?!” he screamed, pulling away from Beverly to push Mike away from Richie.

“Wait a minute!” Mike shouted, making Eddie freeze up.

Stan was gagging and he ran to go stand by Bill, who was standing frozen in shock, and Beverly and Ben had backed up too. He looked at Eddie with fear burning in his blue eyes, “Eddie, get over here!”

Before Eddie could respond, he saw Richie’s eyes fly open and watched Richie’s hands move faster than humanly possible before gripping into Patrick’s hair, ripping him out of Mike’s hold and Eddie saw Richie’s mouth open, he saw literal fangs where his upper and lower canines should have been before sinking into Patrick’s neck.

“What the fuck!” Stan screamed and he and his friends scurried backwards as Richie rolled over, pinning Patrick to the ground, the man being fed on was weakly thrashing on the ground.

Mike took a few steps back, grabbing Eddie, “Don’t get close,” he warned.

The group was quiet, all that could be heard was Richie slurping down blood and Patrick’s weak gurgles that soon faded out and the fight left his body, he twitched a couple times before falling slack.

Richie pulled away with a gasp, his dark curly hair obstructing his eyes, lips coated in blood, a stream of crimson dripped from his chin, a slow stream ran down the column of his neck and soaked into the collar of his hoodie.

He remained crouched over his food, but slowly turned his attention towards the group huddled in the corner, Mike stood in front of them all protectively, an arm held off to side as if he could save them.

Eddie looked at Richie with disbelief, voice frozen in his throat; he couldn’t speak if he wanted, because he couldn’t even fathom what he was seeing, let think of anything to voice what the fuck was going on. He looked like…like a _monster_ with the blood splattered across his face, staring at them with dark, unblinking eyes and Eddie almost jumped out of his skin when Richie moved.

Richie slowly wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, the blood on his neck was cooling and the blood on his face was sluggishly drying on his face and he slowly looked down at Patrick before back to his boyfriend. He met Eddie’s gaze and he felt like he was going to be sick when he saw the fear there, etched vividly on his face and Richie lurched to his feet so fast that it was unnerving.

Ben yelped and felt Stan fall back against him in shock, Mike also went ridged, keeping his gaze locked on Richie at all times, and Beverly gripped onto Eddie’s arm, pulling him back further into the small circle of their friends.

Richie didn’t say anything, just staring at them before letting his shoulders droop.

Eddie felt his heart practically stop from shock when Richie wasn’t standing before them anymore, it was just an empty spot, Patrick’s corpse was even gone all that remained was a small pool of blood.

Bill turned to Mike, “What the _fuck_?!” he shouted. “I d-didn’t believe you!”

“I had my own doubts for a while,” Mike confessed. He glanced over at Eddie, “Did you have any speculation of what Richie was?”

“I don’t even know what he is!” Eddie exploded, face getting red. “What did you do to him?!”

“Eddie,” Mike said carefully, “Richie’s a vampire.”

Beverly let out a scoffing laugh, there were still tears in her eyes, “That’s complete bullshit!”

“Then how do you explain what happened?” Mike demanded, but it was meant to be addressed to all of them. “He was shot, he was drinking blood, and moved so fast that none of us saw him leave,” he listed off. He gestured to the empty place where Patrick had been, “He even took a body with him!”

Stan was shaking his head, “I don’t…this can’t be _real_,” he whispered in disbelief.

Ben looked bewildered, he was still clinging onto Beverly, who was shivering, and Ben took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders, “So what do you know about his kind?” he asked, looking at Mike.

“My family were a family of hunters, mostly on my mother’s side, but my mom didn’t partake, but my uncle, when he took me in, he used to tell me about them,” Mike said, but he looked a little confused. “But he’s…different, he gets _wounded_.”

Eddie was practically glaring at Mike with watery eyes, “His mom is fucking human! She’s terminally _ill_, Mike! Kimberly can’t be a fucking vampire either!” he felt ridiculous saying that word for mythical creature.

“His dad,” Beverly murmured. “He could be one,” she said, even though it sounded surreal to even consider it, but she couldn’t explain what she had saw.

“No,” Eddie snapped, “he’s dead, there’s no way he could have been one.”

“Do you know where he’s buried or if he is buried?” Mike asked him. He saw that Eddie was still giving him an angry look, “What, do you know where he is?”

“I’m not telling you anything, because you’re crazy!” Eddie shouted. He stormed towards the stairs, freezing in place when he saw that Belch’s body was still at the foot of the stairs and Eddie let out a frustrated cry.

Mike grabbed Eddie by the shoulders, “You have to calm down, Eddie,” he looked down at the foot of the stairs and grimaced; his family wasn’t home and wouldn’t be back until the evening, it gave him some time to figure out a plan.

Eddie jerked away from Mike, “How the fuck do you expect me to do _that_?! You killed Patrick and Belch is dead at the bottom of the stairs!” he snarled. “R-Richie,” he suddenly hiccupped, covering his mouth with his hand before shaking his head and hurried down the stairs, jumping over Belch’s unmoving form and ran outside where he proceeded to get sick.

Beverly hurried outside too, looking shaken still, “Eddie—”

“Not now,” Eddie said weakly and wiped his mouth. His eyes were still watering, “I just want to go home, Bev. I don’t want to be around anyone right now,” he croaked.

Beverly nodded, she saw that Richie’s jeep was still there, “I’m sure he won’t care,” she said mostly to herself before gesturing Eddie to follow her. She opened the driver’s door and saw that the keys were still in the ignition and watched Eddie hesitate before slowly going over to the driver’s side.

When Eddie got into the passenger seat, “What do we do about…about the body?” he whispered, staring out the windshield.

“They’ll figure it out,” Beverly said as she turned the key, the jeep started up. She saw Bill come out of the barn and she rolled down the window, “I’m taking Eddie home,” her words were final.

Bill nodded, “M-Mike s-s-said th-that he’d h-handle i-it,” his stammer was worse with nerves. He had glanced past Beverly to gauge Eddie’s reaction, but the other boy was listlessly staring out the windshield.

“I’ll come back,” Beverly promised. She wiped at her eyes, finding eyeliner and mascara on the back of her hand, but she didn’t bother to wipe it off, she didn’t say goodbye as she put the jeep in drive and turned down the dirt road without a second thought, leaving Bill where he was, watching them drive off.

The drive was in a very uncomfortable silence, but Beverly thought it would be too strange to turn on the radio to cancel out the silence. She was practically white-knuckling the whole drive as Eddie was just mute in the seat next to her, sitting rigidly the entire way home.

By the time Beverly got them to Eddie’s house, he was almost out the door before the jeep came to a stop, which had Beverly slamming on the brakes before Eddie hurt himself and they both lurched at the sudden stop.

“Jesus, Eddie!” Beverly snapped. “You could have gotten hurt!”

“Beverly,” Eddie stressed, “do you think that matters right now?” he hissed. “There were two fucking _murders_ in Mike’s barn,” he tried to keep his voice down. An angry flush worked its way up to his cheeks, “And Richie _took_ one of the bodies! At this point, I _wish_ I had jumped out the car while we were driving because we’ll be facing prison time!”

“No, we won’t!” Beverly scowled. “_We_ didn’t do a damn thing!”

Eddie got back inside the jeep and slammed the door shut, “If you don’t remember, I have a blood-soaked hoodie left at Mike’s loft, it doesn’t matter that it’s Richie’s blood, because it’ll have my skin and hair all over it! Patrick’s fucking throat was slit and there’s blood all over the wood that even if it’s cleaned up, the forensics will still show that _something_ was there!” he shouted. “Oh, also?” he growled, “Belch’s stupid car is still there! We can’t exactly just dump a whole ass vehicle without getting our DNA all over the interior and without raising suspicions if the car is found after we dumped it somewhere!” he was practically breathless towards the end.

“Richie will have Patrick covered,” Beverly fretted. “He obviously murdered Henry and his body hasn’t been discovered, it’s safe to assume that Patrick won’t be found either…”

“How can you just be so calm about this?!” Eddie cried. “Beverly, three people, despite being fucking asshole bullies, were _murdered!_”

“Because if I’m not calm about this, I won’t be able to help the others, I hated them, Eddie, and it’s better that they’re gone,” Beverly replied. “It’s okay if you’re freaked out and scared, because that’s how normal people react when you find out you’ve been dating a vampire.”

Eddie let out a watery laugh, “I just can’t believe it,” he whispered.

“What are you going to do about it?” Beverly asked him gently. “I know everything just happened so fast…but do you hate him or are you scared of him?”

“I don’t think I’m capable of hating Richie, he’s never hurt me…if anything he seemed more nervous than me when we started dating,” Eddie told her. “I’m scared for him and if he hasn’t already fled the damn country, I need to talk to him. A lot of things are making more sense and I want him to tell me the truth,” Eddie’s words grew firmer.

“Secrets don’t make relationships last,” Beverly agreed.

“But I’m going to give him some time, he was shot,” Eddie’s bottom lip wobbled. “He was really hurt, so hopefully what Mike did will help him recover quicker.”

Beverly nodded understandingly, “You should probably take some time for yourself too.”

“Funny, coming from you, when you’re about to go help the others clean up a murder scene,” Eddie wryly responded.

“But you’re gonna deal with a vampire,” Beverly reminded. “Who I highly doubt will want to talk to any of us other than you after this,” Beverly sounded a little sad, “but come to think of it, he seemed to be only infatuated with you, no one else mattered.”

Eddie felt his face grow warm, “Hopefully he still is…I want to talk to him about this.”

“Just promise me you’ll be careful,” Beverly sternly said.

“Hard to promise that when he’s superfast and super strong,” Eddie reminded her. “But I’ll try not to poke the hornet’s nest when talking to him.”

It didn’t really seem to soothe Beverly, but she gave him a somewhat unforced smile, “Okay, thank you, now get inside, I’ve got to go,” she shooed him a little.

“Right, um, just text me…when you get home, I guess?” Eddie asked her. “Don’t put any incriminating words in your texts either!”

“I’m not _that_ stupid, Eddie,” Beverly teased.

“Well, make sure the tell the others, because I know Bill would slipup,” Eddie told her. He told her goodbye once again before hoping out of Richie’s jeep and headed inside, his mother was strangely quiet when he came inside, there wasn’t an angry outburst, nor chipper greeting, but Eddie was grateful; he hurried inside and watched Beverly drive off and waited an hour before opening up his message app.

He had a couple texts group texts from Beverly, everyone else was quiet, which was understandable, Eddie hoped that Stan was okay as he was really shaken up when Eddie had left.

Eddie let out a shaky breath and opened his messages with Richie and his heart flipped-flopped in nerves before he typed out a message:

‘_If you’re feeling any better tomorrow, can I come over?’_

Eddie didn’t expect a response, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t stop checking his notifications until midnight, but now it was just going to be a waiting game.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ope, myyyy bbbbbbbb, fam!
> 
> Soooo, in my head I updated last week and then my stomach dropped bc I haven't even typed up chapter 18 yet so I thought I posted chappie 17 and then just never wrote, BUT I didn't post AND didn't write 18 adfjd;fj so, I guess I'll go pencil dive off a cliff.
> 
> Also, even with the C-Virus on the lurking grounds (sorry to bring it up, I'm fucking tired of hearing about it too), my office has not closed, so I'm still working my normal schedule, so I'm stuck writing on my lunch, or at home after work, so updates might be the same or a lil delayed, bc I'm RLY busy now with work, since everyone is in panic mode at my work :/
> 
> Godspeed trying to find toilet paper or water, b/c people are fucking PSYCHOTIC. *plays My Heart Will Go On w/Kazoo*

Sleep was fleeting, Eddie maybe slept a total of four hours throughout the night, it was a few minutes shy of 7 am before Eddie kicked off his covers; he was still in his jeans and T-shirt from the other day.

He reluctantly showered, but his skin felt like it was going to crawl off since he didn’t take his nightly shower. Eddie scrubbed his body three times before he felt satisfied enough to get out the shower and then he dried himself off before wrapping a towel around his waist and hurried to his room to get dressed again.

He still didn’t have any new messages and he was about to text Richie again when he heard tapping on his window, Eddie whipped around in anticipation and frowned when he didn’t see Richie’s familiar face there, instead, he saw a little pebble bounce off his window that made the tapping noise.

Hesitantly, Eddie walked over and to his bewilderment, he saw Kimmy standing on the ground, the little girl was only dressed in pajamas and a coat and Eddie waved to her before putting on his shoes, hurrying downstairs, his mother was asleep in her recliner, and Eddie quietly grabbed his car keys before slipping out the front door.

“Eddie!” Kimmy sobbed. “Richie won’t an-answer his p-phone!” she cried, tears were spilling down her pale cheeks and her nose was bright red and runny. “He didn’t come home! Mama got s-sick with fear!”

Eddie quickly crouched down, pulling the travel packet of tissues and wiped her tears and nose, “Were the nurses there to help your mom?” he asked her gently.

Kimmy hiccupped as she nodded rubbing at her eyes, “B-but she won’t wake up.”

Eddie hugged her, picking her up, “And you walked _all_ the way here?” he frowned as he walked towards his car. He felt her nod against his shoulder, “Kimmy, you could have gotten hurt or worse!” Eddie exclaimed as he carefully sat her in the passenger seat; she was shivering and Eddie hastily took off his coat and laid it over her.

“But Richie didn’t answer his phone,” Kimmy whined. “Not for the nurses either!”

“He’s not here,” Eddie told her softly and saw her confusion.

“Then where is he?” Kimmy asked him. “If not here, then where?”

“I don’t know, Kims,” Eddie sighed quietly. “But I’m taking you home, if your mom is awake by now, she’s going to be super worried.”

Kimmy made an unhappy sound, “B-but she’ll be sad that Richie isn’t home!”

Eddie gave her a sympathetic look, “I’m going to help you find him, okay?” he said. He told her to hang on before quickly shutting the passenger door and hurried up to the driver’s side and got in, starting it up and turned the heat on, it would warm up quick if Eddie drove, so he put the car in reverse, and pulled out of the driveway and started to the Tozier household.

“Did you two fight?” Kimmy asked him. “Is that why he didn’t come home?”

“No,” Eddie shook his head before nervously biting at his bottom lip. “Kimmy, I know you probably are aware of…Richie’s condition, right? And why he’s so different than everyone else…”

Kimmy looked away from him, staring at her slippers, “Richie isn’t strange, he’s a weirdo, but only because he’s my big brother.”

Eddie laughed softly, but he glanced over to her before back at the road, “You don’t have to tell me anything, I know you love him and want to keep him safe, right?”

Kimmy nodded seriously.

“Well…me too,” Eddie confessed. “He saved me and our friends from getting seriously hurt, but something happened and now he’s hiding from all of us, and I just want to make sure he’s okay. I want him to know that I’m not scared of him.”

“You shouldn’t be afraid,” Kimmy frowned at him. “He’s the best brother to me. He keeps me and mama safe.”

“Kimmy,” Eddie hesitated, feeling a little odd to ask a ten-year-old such an invasive question, “what happened to your father? Was…was he like Richie?”

Kimmy ducked her head, “Father…was distant. He and Richie used to yell a lot, mama was unhappy about it and then one day, father just went away. He didn’t come back,” her eyes watered. “Mama was so sad and was in bed forever and Richie was upset too, but after a while, things got a little better,” Kimmy said gently as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “We got to leave the house and I made lots of new friends and Richie isn’t so sad all the time and mama isn’t always in bed anymore.”

Eddie had an eerie feeling run up his spine, “I’m glad that you’ve mad so many new friends, Kimmy.”

“You’re my friend too, you make Richie happy,” Kimmy smiled at Eddie. “I like Bill too, Georgie says that he’s a great big brother too, but between you and me, Richie is cooler.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” Eddie promised.

When they pulled up to the giant gate, Eddie was surprised to see the doors slowly open and Eddie swallowed uneasily, but pulled forward, easing his care along the smooth blacktop until the familiar manor came into view.

It looked so depressed, if a mansion could look sad.

Eddie parked under the overhang and helped Kimmy undo her seatbelt. He took back his coat when she handed it to him, “Is your mom the only one home?”

“Nurse Amy should be there, she doesn’t know that I snuck out, I was super sneaky getting out,” Kimmy said.

“Well, let’s make sure no one figures out you’re missing,” Eddie said and got out of his car, Kimmy was already running to the front door, where she waited for Eddie to catch up and she grabbed his hand before opening the front door.

Eddie was alarmed that it was unlocked, but nonetheless, followed her inside the dimly lit foyer, the TV was on in the living room and Eddie saw a blonde hair piled up in a neat bun, her back was to them, but the lady quickly turned to face them.

“Kimmy?” the blonde-haired lady blinked, getting up from the couch. “What on earth are you doing outside in your pajamas? It’s freezing!”

“Amy!” Kimmy smiled and tugged on Eddie’s hand. “I had to go get Eddie! He’s my brother’s boyfriend!”

Amy sized Eddie up for a moment before giving him a hesitant smile, “I suppose you haven’t seen that boy, anywhere have you? He gave his mother quite a fright.”

Eddie gave her an apologetic look, “I haven’t, but I’m also looking for him.”

Amy had a worried expression on her face, “Tabitha, another caretaker here, she said she had gone and looked for Richie, but was unable to find him, his jeep is missing out of the garage.”

Eddie fought back a wince; Beverly couldn’t have dropped off his jeep, the gates wouldn’t have opened for her, so he could only assume that Richie’s jeep was still at Mike’s farm. He glanced down when Kimmy tugged at his hand when he had delayed too long and saw her pouting at him, his heart flipped in his chest; she looked too much like Richie at times.

“He’ll have to come back soon,” Kimmy said determinedly. “Come play with me in the garden,” she suddenly demanded from Eddie.

“Little lady, you are in no such form of dress to be outside in the cold!” Amy protested. 

“I’ll be fine!” Kimmy replied, tugging at Eddie’s hand again. “C’mon, let’s go, let’s go!” she said hurriedly and was practically running down the hall towards the kitchen, completely ignoring the nurse’s call for her to come back.

“Watch her, will you?” Amy asked Eddie as she lightly rubbed at her temples. “It’s bad enough one child has gone missing, but Mrs. Tozier will have a right fit if her daughter goes missing!”

“I will,” Eddie promised and booked it after Kimmy, straight out in the chilly morning air, the sun was cutting through the light overcast. He found her on the stone patio, staring out into the woods that were far back, there was a ton of open field before them.

Kimmy turned to look back at Eddie and gestured back towards the threshold of the woods, “Sometimes he goes into the woods, maybe he’s there!” she chirped hopefully. “I didn’t go earlier because it was too dark and it was scary,” she frowned at him.

Unease settled in Eddie’s gut, but he grabbed for Kimmy’s hand anyway and started marching along with her towards the woods, it felt like it took forever, like he was trapped in a dream, the ending never getting any closer no matter how quickly he walked or ran.

Until finally, the woods loomed over him, making Eddie shiver and he could peer through the trees, there was a path, “Do you guys walk here often?” he asked, seeing that it was well worn.

“Father is buried back here, so I walk here with Mama a lot,” Kimmy simply replied. She walked forward, waiting for Eddie to come with her since she wouldn’t be able to pull Eddie and led him down the beaten path.

Eddie looked around himself, mostly everything was covered in frost and he felt his heart starting to race in anxiety when the trees creaked from above him due to the wind.

Kimmy was walking determinedly down the worn path until they came to almost what looked like a shrine, she glanced down at the picture of her father encased in glass on a smooth tombstone that was an onyx black.

Eddie thought the picture looked very old, which made a lot of sense now, “Kimmy, you’re not like Richie or your father, are you?” he asked. Despite cold hands, he could feel Kimmy’s pulse in her fingertips and the light warmth that lingered in her skin.

“No,” Kimmy stated. “Mama wouldn’t let me become like father,” she said after a moment. “Richie isn’t like father either,” she shook her head at herself. “I mean…he’s sort of like father, but Richie is different.”

“You father can’t bleed,” Eddie guessed and watched Kimmy look up at him with bewilderment before slowly nodding at him. It dawned on him, “Richie is only a half-blood, is that possible?”

Kimmy shrugged, “I dunno, Mama doesn’t like to talk to me about that stuff,” when she went to go look back at her father’s grave, her eyes widened and she stepped around Eddie, a smile on her face. “Richie!” she called, running a few steps ahead before slowing down when her brother didn’t respond to her.

Eddie also turned around and that cold terror knotted itself into his throat that stopped him from speaking, he knew that dark hair, gangly form, and pale face anywhere, but those cold, dark eyes didn’t match Richie’s.

It was Patrick Hockstetter standing before them, with a horribly scarred throat from a slash wound and teeth marks, and when he smiled, Eddie could see the fangs from where he stood.

~~~

Beverly nearly screamed in fright when there was a figure standing in the middle of her room, she almost dropped her towel in her attempt to fall back into the hallway and froze when she saw Richie. She quickly went into her room and quietly shut her door, her father was passed out on the couch, but she wasn’t taking any chances. Beverly glanced over him, he was still in yesterday’s clothes that were somewhat bloodstained, “You’re alive,” she merely stated.

Richie’s lips somewhat twitched towards a grin, but he looked too tired to actually smile, “Not really,” he stated the obvious.

“Why are you here?” Beverly asked him carefully, eyeing him like she was suspicious of him and she saw his shoulders slump somewhat.

“I heard you talking to the others yesterday,” Richie told her. “At Mike’s farm,” he clarified, “I’m sorry about the mess, I got rid of that one guy’s car by the way, it won’t be found,” Richie promised. “But thanks for…like sticking up for me, even though you didn’t have to do that, because of what I am.”

Beverly cautiously reached for her robe that was slung over the back of her piano chair and she wrapped it around herself, “It was pretty much payback for saving our asses and Mike’s uncle wouldn’t be happy to find a body and bloodstains everywhere in the barn from those dickheads, so with my blood removal experience, none of them were in the position to go against me,” she said proudly. “So, thanks for coming back to help clean up,” Beverly said sarcastically.

“Hey, most of it was my blood and I was weak from blood loss,” Richie huffed defiantly. “I’m the one who got shot _and_ still got rid of that guy’s car!” he sulkily reminded her.

Beverly couldn’t stop the startled laugh from escaping her and she hastily slapped a hand over her mouth, trying to glare at Richie. She breathed in and out slowly for a second, “You never told me why you came to me, did you go see Eddie?” she asked him.

Richie looked down at his dirty shoes, “Do you honestly think that he’d ever want to see me again after what happened?” he sounded so small when he said that and he heard Beverly sigh.

“Eddie doesn’t hate you and he’s not afraid of you, if anything, he was scared for you, he didn’t know if you were still hurting or not,” Beverly informed him. “He said he was going to text you; did you get it?”

“Phone’s dead,” Richie sheepishly told her. He tilted his head somewhat imploringly at her, “Where is he right now?” he asked her.

“Most likely at home, I dropped him off after yesterday’s…events,” Beverly told him. “I haven’t heard from him since,” she sighed, “but I’m sure if you went over there, he would talk to you,” Beverly reassured him.

Richie shifted restlessly at that, but he did worry about Eddie; he needed to see him. “Promise me this isn’t some trick?” he asked her, his stare was practically steel as he looked into her blue-green eyes.

“I’d never lie to a friend,” Beverly replied, sincerity rung in her words. “Besides, wouldn’t you know if I was lying?”

“Your pulse is what tells me,” Richie informed her and saw her shiver, but she didn’t look disgusted, if anything, extremely intrigued. He let out a disbelieving scoff, “You are so entirely _weird_, Beverly Marsh,” Richie said fondly.

“This generation is far more jaded than people seem to know, we’ve witnessed some shit and so far, the existence of vampires would probably be on the bottom of the list if they behave like you do,” Beverly mused and then gave a curt look at her bedroom door. “And sometimes monsters aren’t always the true monsters, but those who are perfectly human are the ones to be feared.”

“I could always make him disappear, Bev,” Richie murmured to her. “My mother would understand if you came to live with us, perhaps you’d be the one to give my little sister some normality in her life.”

“But she has you, you make her happy,” Beverly replied, she folded her arms and sighed quietly. “And no disappearing my dad, there’s already enough murders here, three, to be exact,” she inclined her head at the vampire.

“To be fair, Patrick’s death was on Mike, I didn’t slit his throat,” Richie defended himself. “By the way, give him my thanks. Without him, I think I’d actually be dead.”

“You and Mike should meet in the middle of that bridge, clearly he doesn’t hate your kind that much, talk to him, those old gens never want to make peace,” Beverly nodded encouragingly to him. “But first, you’ve got your boyfriend to talk to.”

“That I do,” Richie smiled, warmth coloring his face happily at the mention of Eddie.

Beverly gave him a funny look, “Can you only blush when you drink blood?”

“Fresh blood,” Richie replied.

She hummed, tapping a finger against her chin thoughtfully, “Does that mean you can only...” Beverly glanced down at his crotch and back up Richie’s face, seeing him wrinkling his nose, “…can only get _it_ up when you drink blood?” she teased.

“You’re the worst and I practically consider you as my sister at this point and I’ll never tell you my sex stories of dicking down Eddie,” Richie huffed defensively. He scowled when she started to giggle at him. Richie went back to her bedroom window and climbed halfway out, “I’m going to go see the love of my life, bye!”

“You won’t need any luck,” Beverly winked. “And don’t forget to pick up your jeep from Mike’s,” she reminded.

Richie waved her off before leaping out her window, he smiled when he heard her gasp, he gave her one cutesy wave from the ground and chuckled when her astonishment turned to bemusement and she flipped him off, Richie blew her a kiss before sprinting to Eddie’s house, making sure to stay clear of the town; he wasn’t invisible when he ran.

When he wound up on the sidewalk at Eddie’s, Richie frowned when he didn’t see Eddie’s car and more to his bewilderment, he faintly caught his sister’s scent and Richie poked around the yard before leaping up to Eddie’s bedroom window her scent didn’t go further than the yard, so he assumed that Eddie must have come outside.

The dewy grass was mingling with Eddie and Kimmy’s scents, almost erasing them entirely and Richie’s feet took to him to the driveway where Eddie’s classic convertible should have been. He placed his hands on his hips and sighed, “Never is easy,” Richie muttered to himself. 

There was possibly one other place they could have gone: home.

Richie took off once more, down the road and vaulted over the gate with ease and sprinted up the long, slightly billowing blacktop all the way back to his home and much to his pleasure, he saw Eddie’s car there, parked under the overhang. He practically skipped to the front door before freezing in place with his hand outstretched to the door handle; in the distance, he heard Kimmy’s cries.

Rage immediately overtook Richie and he turned and ran to the backyard, following the sounds of her crying and could smell fresher trails of her and Eddie’s warmth, he didn’t bother taking the beaten path, instead, he cut straight through the thick woods, startling a few deer; he was coming up fast to where his sister was.

Kimmy was hiding behind their father’s tombstone, crying into her hands, shivering from cold and what Richie could detect was fear; she hadn’t noticed Richie yet.

“Kims,” Richie called out softly, earning a startled sound from his sister. Richie hurried over to her, crouching down, his chest hurt to see her bloodshot eyes, cheeks, nose, and ears pink with cold; she looked like she had been crying for some time.

Kimmy threw herself at Richie, crying into his hoodie, “H-he’s gone!” she cried.

“Eddie?” Richie’s stomach lurched. He wanted to cradle her close, but he was scared, “What happened?” he asked her. He could feel Kimmy shivering and without another thought, Richie swept her up into his arms and sped home and through the sliding down that led out into the backyard, he took her upstairs without Amy noticing.

Kimmy found herself on her bed with her duvet encircling her and she gripped it with shaky fingers, “Where w-were y-you?” her teeth were chattering and she tucked her knees up under her chin again.

“I promise I’ll explain later,” Richie swore. He knelt on the ground and gripped his sister’s hands, trying to give her the warmth that was currently lingering in his system from having just fed, “But you need to tell me what happened to Eddie,” Richie practically begged her.

Kimmy’s eyes got watery, “Some strange boy was in the woods with us,” she hiccupped. “He…he’s like you and father,” she whispered. “He was_ scary_,” Kimmy shivered. 

Dread washed over Richie like a tide, “What did he do?” Richie asked her softly.

“H-he grabbed Eddie; he was choking Eddie!” Kimmy sniffled, tears running down her face again. “Eddie couldn’t fight him and then that boy took him away,” Kimmy rubbed at her eyes. “He said before he left that he was…he was, um, making things equal; eye for eye, I think he said.”

Richie felt that dread grow and for the first ever, he felt like he was going to be sick.

“Who is he?” Kimmy asked her brother.

“A very bad person, Kimmy,” Richie replied and hugged her close. “I’m just glad that you’re safe.”

“That’s because Eddie threw a rock at him,” Kimmy stated it matter-of-factly, like it was a natural Eddie thing to do.

A startled laugh escaped him and while he was sick with worry for his boyfriend, he was relieved that Eddie had acted out to protect Kimmy. Richie got back to his feet, “You know I love you, Kims and mom so very much,” Richie told her, seeing her nod that she knew that, “and…and I love Eddie, he isn’t afraid of me, of what I am.”

“There’s _nothing_ wrong with you,” Kimmy said fiercely as she could in her young kid voice. 

Richie smiled at her, “Thank you,” he murmured. “Because Eddie is not only my friend, but someone so precious to me, I need to go save him, Kimmy.”

“What about Mama?” Kimmy frowned worriedly. “She got so sick with worry!”

“It’s why,” Richie paused to grimace slightly, “you’ve got to cover me.”

“Cover you?” Kimmy looked down at her blanket in confusion, “Are you cold?”

“No, no, I mean, you’ve got to tell mom that I’m fine, which I am, you can’t tell her about what happened to Eddie or the bad person, or that I’m going to go get Eddie back,” Richie explained. He saw her nod seriously, “I will come back with Eddie,” he promised his little sister.

“You better,” Kimmy pouted unhappily.

Richie winked and then smiled and offered her his pinky, “I’d never lie to you.”

Kimmy wrapped her pinky around his and lightly squeezed.

Richie let go and stood up, “You should go downstairs and talk to Amy, get her to make some food for you, bathe, and then get some rest, you’ve been outside in the cold all morning,” he fretted.

“Okay,” Kimmy wasn’t too happy about having to bathe and get ready for bed, but she was hungry. She watched Richie leave and quietly followed him to her bedroom door before standing there to see him hurry down the hall and to his bedroom, she guessed he was going to go out his bedroom window since it faced the woods, as he’s done that before.

Richie didn’t waste anymore time, more time lost mean more distance between him and Eddie and his captor, he jumped out his bedroom window and went back to his father’s grave. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, Eddie’s scent was starting to fade and his nose wrinkled when he picked up the stench of rot; Patrick was more dead than alive, but at least it would be easier for Richie to find him since it was so strong.

He whipped his head towards the direction of town, for whatever reason, Hockstetter went back there and once again, Richie took off in a blurring sprint; he’d save Eddie, no matter what.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo, I changed my hours, so now I don't have time to write on my lunch...updates will be slower, especially because Animal Crossing has completely overtaken my life :((((( I JUST WANT AN IRONWOOD DRESSER & CUTTING BOARD SO I CAN MAKE A IRONWOOD KITCHENETTE, DAMMIT!!
> 
> Also, I believe I will wrap this fic up in a chapter or two, so for the those of you who stuck through since the beginning, kudos to you bc omg this fic is a dumpster fire adkfjldkj and those to you who are new, thank you for scouring the endless pages of the Reddie tag in Ao3 and giving this fic a chance~

Richie had practically ran laps around the entire town, the stench of Hockstetter was starting to taper off and he couldn’t even smell Eddie’s anymore, which was setting up a fresh feeling of hysteria.

He had even gone to the junkyard, because he recalled that was one of their haunts, Richie had even saw them there when he would go hunting, but Hockstetter hadn’t been there and Eddie’s scent wasn’t there either; Richie didn’t know to be relieved or frightened.

At one point, he crossed through a dingy alleyway that had a truck parked in the middle and Richie was about to lunge over it when he recognized that truck, it was Mike’s.

Not even moments after Richie thinking that, the wooden door swung open and outstepped Mike, the two stared at each other for a long, awkward moment, Richie didn’t even know how to break the ice.

Mike offered him a timid smile, “Glad to see that you’re…um, faring better,” he said carefully, but was watching Richie carefully, uncertain how the vampire was going to react.

“Thanks, but I fucked up,” Richie blurted and saw confusion spreading across Mike’s face. “It’s Patrick,” he grimaced, “I think I somehow accidentally turned him.”

“You did _what_?!” Mike exclaimed, dropping his truck keys onto the ground.

Richie had jumped at both of the loud sounds, “I didn’t even know I could do that, Mike!” he shrilled. “And I can’t argue with you,” Richie added on when it looked like Mike was about to start yelling some more, “he has Eddie,” he whispered.

That had Mike freeze up and he looked like he was going to get sick.

“I tracked him back here to town, but his scent is starting to fade,” Richie informed him. “I don’t know where he’s taken Eddie…”

“Did you check his house?” Mike asked him. He saw Richie shake his head at him, “I’ll take you to his place,” he seemed reluctant to do so, especially with how slightly wild Richie looked; he wasn’t eager to be in an enclosed area.

Richie seemed to pick up on his discomfort, “I’ll ride in the back,” he leapt with ease into the bed of the truck, sitting on the tire humps and looked expectantly with impatience written across his face.

That seemed to urge Mike, he scooped his keys off the ground and rushed to the driver’s side and started his truck and pulled it out the alleyway and then eased onto the main street. He was pushing it a little quickly down the town’s road towards the direction of the Hockstetter’s house and with a quick glance in the rearview mirror, he saw that Richie had shut his eyes and tilted his head back, to most it probably would have looked like he was enjoying the sun that was out, despite the chill, but Mike assumed he was trying to pick up Eddie’s scent.

The drive took them out of the town and more into the country and knew he was getting close; he usually passed the Hockstetter residence when he was heading to another farm to drop off bales of hay.

Mike eased the truck to the slow stop onto the dirt shoulder, “A little further up, there’s a blue house on the left, that’s Hockstetter’s home,” he spoke in a level tone as if Richie were riding shotgun. He felt the truck lurch from Richie jumping out the back, he watched Richie bound away until his eyes couldn’t keep up and Mike felt a trickle of nervousness course through him, he was frightened that they wouldn’t find Eddie, Mike didn’t waste any time turning around, leaving a large dirt cloud behind him as he drove quickly back to town.

Meanwhile, Richie could see the freshly turned vamp’s house. He paused by a crabapple tree, the sour smell almost masked over everything else and Richie’s nose wrinkled in disgust, so he paused and listened.

There was faint murmuring coming from within the house, but none of them match’s Hockstetter’s voice, the voice sounded female and she sounded worried, Richie then figured out that she was talking on the phone, judging by the pauses.

He crept forward, the sun was bright and it sucked because Richie had to be extra careful, so he glanced around and caught sight of an old shed, which he ran to, in hope that there would be a clue.

Richie peered around the old metal shed, listening as well, but heard or smelled nothing, he could only pick up oil, gasoline, and paint. Richie scowled and looked back to the house, there was a back porch that was roofed, he could see that the decorative vine fence was faded in the center and more broken up towards the top, so it was obvious to him that Patrick had used to climb it to sneak in and out.

He walked up to it before jumping and landed somewhat softly on the porch roof, pausing to listen, but the woman speaking hadn’t paused and Richie rounded to the window that was closed, but not locked; he wasn’t worried about leaving finger prints, since he didn’t produce dead skin cells nor oils to leave any residue of him being there behind.

He eased the window open and the smell of Patrick’s human smell basically decked him in the face, there was old traces of Bowers in there too, Richie poked his head in and looked around the dark room, the bedroom door was open and light from the hall lit the room up a little bit.

Richie couldn’t smell the new rot smell or Eddie’s scent, but it would have been stupid to bring Eddie here if there was someone else living in the house. He was about to leave when he heard the woman downstairs let out a sobbing cry.

“Dammit, Clara! I don’t _care_ that he’s 20! He’s still _my_ child!”

Richie flinched at her upset tone, it was clear that she had been crying for sometime and guilt flooded through him, because when he saw people like Hockstetter, he didn’t ever think of their families, he just saw them as blood Capri Sun.

“And you’re _sure_ that Victor hasn’t heard anything?” Patrick’s mother was practically begging.

Richie heard her sniffle before letting out a shaky breath.

“Okay, please just call me if you or your boy hear anything, I’ve been worried about him since Henry had gone missing…”

Richie left after that, quietly shutting the bedroom window; he didn’t know how to feel, other than bad for Patrick’s mother, she had no idea and nor would she ever know what happened to her son.

He went back to the spot where Mike had dropped him off and assumed that Mike had gone back to town, which he went back too, he had just reached the middle of the town when he heard a screech of tires and whipped around, seeing Stan’s startled face as he was trying to stop himself on his bike.

Stan yelped as the front of his bike turned suddenly, which had him thrown from his bike, he braced himself for impact and felt himself get stopped and Stan blinked in bewilderment when he realized that Richie had stopped him from braining himself on the sidewalk.

“Jesus!” Richie gasped, steadying the other curly haired boy.

Stan yanked himself out of Richie’s hold, “Where in the ever-loving fuck did you come from?!” he shrilled. “You were not in front of me seconds ago!”

“I ran here, back from Hockstetter’s, I’m freakishly fast,” Richie flashed his fangs somewhat and saw the blood drain from Stan’s face and Richie instantly took a few steps back. “Sorry…” he muttered.

“W-whatever, just…don’t do something like that again,” Stan grumbled as he picked up his bike and looked at Richie with a cold fierceness in his blue eyes. “Why were you even at Hockstetter’s in in the first place?”

“He took Eddie,” Richie informed him and immediately saw the suspiciousness turn to terror in Stan’s eyes. “I’m going to find, Eddie,” he swore.

“How did he do that? Hockstetter…” Stan paused to glance around himself before lowering his voice more, “he’s…he’s dead.”

“We can’t talk here,” Richie said and saw that Stan was in agreement with him.

“C’mon, we’re meeting at the old clubhouse,” Stan told Richie. “Mike said it would be safer there than at the loft, since his family is home now, but he did say something about going to sewers after we met up.”

Richie hadn’t even thought about checking the sewers, it just seemed too cliché, even for Patrick. “Are the others there?” Richie asked him.

“Yea,” Stan nodded.

Richie turned on his heel, “I’ll find them, see you there,” he said.

Stan blinked and Richie was gone and he felt a shiver roll up his spine in fear; he didn’t know how to handle the fact that vampires were real, it was horrifying and changed his whole life’s perspective, but he reminded himself to try to have a meltdown later, because one of his best friends were missing.

~~~

Ben was carefully setting one foot onto ladder rung when suddenly Richie was standing in front of him and Ben let out a startled sound, arms pinwheeling to keep his balance, as he was going backwards.

Richie’s hand shot out forward and grabbed the front of Ben’s jacket, pulling him forward, “Sorry!” he blurted. “You’re the second I nearly caused a fatality to,” he said.

Ben planted his hands on the ground, his heart was racing and he looked up at Richie, “T-thanks,” he shakily breathed. “Did Mike call you?”

“Is that Richie?”

Richie perked up when he heard Beverly’s voice, “The one and only, Bev, and Stan’s on his way,” he said and saw Beverly look up at him from the underground hideout.

“Tell us what happened,” Beverly said when Richie had just jumped down into the clubhouse. “Mike said it was urgent, but he didn’t say what.”

Richie swallowed uneasily, “Eddie was taken by Patrick.”

“What the fuck?!” Bill had shot up from the old couch that was still down there. He stormed over to Richie, “H-Hocks-stetter’s d-dead!”

Richie took a slow breath out of just old memory, “He…I think I somehow turned him. He’s more dead than a vampire…if that makes any sense.”

Ben looked worried, “More dead than a vampire doesn’t mean that he isn’t one; he _is_ a vampire, Richie.”

Beverly looked close to tears, “What can we do?”

“Personally, I would like all of you to stay the furthest the fuck away that you can humanly possible, but,” Richie paused briefly when he heard Stan coming towards them, “but…since I’ve come to know you all, you’ll confront the issue as if it were your own.”

“Eddie’s our friend,” Ben said firmly, but he gave Richie a soft look, “and so are you, and what you are doesn’t define you, so there isn’t a reason to be afraid of you and leave you to face this by yourself, and it’s simple, Hockstetter is the monster, we can take him down.”

“L-Losers stick t-together,” Bill affirmed.

Stan had dropped into the clubhouse towards the end of their conversation, “And I know you’re itching to go, but there’s power in numbers,” he gave Richie and Bill each a curt look.

“So is safety,” Beverly added, gripping onto Ben’s hand.

“This is such a cheesy romcom that I’m not ready to face,” Richie muttered. He sighed and looked at his friends, “And Mike’s on his way?” he asked, glancing at them.

“Yes, h-he had t-to run h-home an-and get eq-equipment,” Bill told him.

That’s all the information Richie needed, so if he died trying to save Eddie, at least someone would let them out of the clubhouse. Richie recalled seeing a wedge by the ladder that he assumed was used to keep the trapdoor shut on the surface and he felt a little guilty at the thought of keeping them trapped here, but at least they’d be safe.

It would be quicker than mind manipulation, there’s too many of them and Richie didn’t want to do that to them, it was already hard enough doing that to Eddie, his mother didn’t count, she was a terror otherwise.

With his mind made up and because every second standing here meant being a second closer to Eddie, Richie jumped out of the clubhouse, hearing delayed reactions of alarm before Richie was flipping the trapdoor shut and standing on it, there was only enough space for one of the ladder leading out, so Richie wouldn’t be thrown off, but it did make it a little difficult to secure the wedge in place.

“Richie!” came Beverly’s muffled shout.

“You’ll be safer here than with me!” Richie said loudly. “Mike’s coming back, you can kick my corpse ass later, I’m sorry!” he added before running off, he could hear one of them relentlessly trying to open the trapdoor, but Richie was already more than halfway to the main open sewer.

He hadn’t even reached the main drain before the overwhelming scent of just pure _rot_ overtook his senses and Richie gagged, his eyes would have watered if they could, but even as he stopping taking in breaths, the lingering stench reminded him of Patrick; he _reeked_ of death and what Richie knew now was sewage.

Richie jumped over the wide creek and stood in the opening of the drain pipe and listened, he could hear running water and dripping, he ducked his head a little, squeezing his eyes shut, praying to hear _anything_.

There was a soft, shuddery breath and Richie locked in the sound, very faintly he could hear the gentle flutter of a heart; it had to be Eddie. Richie wanted nothing more than to just dart through the sewer until he found his boyfriend, but Hockstetter had to be near and Richie couldn’t afford to fuck up; Eddie’s life was on the line.

Without a single glance back, Richie slipped deeper into the drain pipe.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowww, hi, everyone, so I'm sorry for flaking OTL 
> 
> Hope you all are doing okay and staying healthy and well!!!
> 
> Uhh, Happy Halloween????
> 
> This is gonna be the last chapter, I'm not super happy with the ending, but, uh....I'm awful at endings and haven't wrote anything in months.

Stan watched Bill and Ben from where he sat on the motheaten old couch that they had painstakingly brought down into their old clubhouse when they had been younger. He winced in sympathy when one of them grunted in pain from jamming their shoulder against the firmly latched trapdoor; he heard Bill let out an angry sound before jumping down from the top of the ladder and Ben took his place.

“Mike will be here soon,” Beverly said. She had called, but Mike hadn’t answered, so he must have been driving as he was sort of strict about that rule when he was behind the wheel.

“But we have a dumbass vampire going after a literal feral vampire, who kidnapped our friend!” Bill said in one smooth sentence, which seemed to only happen when he was furious. He dropped down next to Stan will an aggravated huff, “H-How can you b-both b-be so calm?” he asked them, the angry flush still blotting his whole face.

“Richie’s been a vampire longer, Patrick ain’t shit, and even if Patrick somehow manages to get the upper hand on Richie, Mike is the next _Buffy_,” Beverly ticked off on her fingers.

Ben let out a huff of a laugh from where he was still trying to wiggle the wedge loose. He sighed as he climbed back down the ladder, “But, Patrick still has Eddie, Patrick could use him against Richie…”

Stan pursed his lips; it was a plausible worry.

There wasn’t another moment of worry when they heard hurried footsteps coming in their direction and there was a soft grunt before they heard the door wedge get yanked free and the trapdoor was flipped over, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

“Guys?!” came Mike’s worried voice.

Bill shot forward, “W-we’re fine!” he reassured his boyfriend and saw the panic on his face instantly drain away. “R-Richie went ahead,” he scowled and thanked Mike when the other boy helped him out.

“Not surprising,” Mike muttered and helped Bill get the others out of the ground. “Then we should hurry, if Eddie is there, Richie will probably need help. I doubt Patrick will be much a threat, especially if he was turned by a half-blood, but it’s better to have backup anyway.”

“How do you know what Richie is?” Beverly asked as they all jogged out of the woods and towards the steep hill that led up to one of the backroads, where Mike must have parked his truck.

“My family have lived here around the same time as the Toziers, obviously not for the same amount of lifespan time,” Mike said. “Richie isn’t as old as them, his mom is human, his father was using his venom to prolong her life, his sister is human too, and clearly Mrs. Tozier wanted kids and this was the compromise Wentworth Tozier wanted, a vampire heir, his first born.”

Stan frowned and scrambled up the side of the hill, “Sounds like a cult,” he gasped breathlessly as he reached the top, turning around to help Ben up. He braced his hands onto his knees, “A-and so that makes Richie, what? A half-human, half-vampire?” he questioned in disbelief. _Holy shit, was he reading Twilight?_

“My family didn’t believe it either until my uncle saw Richie one day in town with in his mother and sister, before school started for you guys,” Mike said. “Found them in the minimarket on 8th street, picking out glitter pens,” he scoffed in amusement.

“So much for being the monsters your family made them out to be,” Beverly sourly responded, hopping in the bed of the truck and sighed and apologized. “Sorry, I’m not blaming you—”

“I get it,” Mike shrugged off her apology.

Ben frowned, “Richie’s still…on the threat level, he isn’t completely human, so we still need to be careful when we come to help him,” he reminded carefully as he sat next to Beverly, being mindful about the duffel bag that was in the back, which he assumed was probably filled with hunter gear, God, he felt like he was part of a TV show.

“R-regardless, w-we wouldn’t b-be any he-help if y-you didn’t b-b-bring your st-_stuff_,” Bill spoke up from where he sat in the cabin of the truck. “So l-let’s hu-hurry!”

Mike quickly made sure that everyone was safely situated before throwing his truck into drive and hurried down the road, they weren’t too far the main opening. He supposed it was convenient that this was still open, as the house on Nebolt had been torn down, Ben had discovered that there was well in the basement of the old, rotting house, but since the house had been torn down, the well had been filled and cemented over.

Ben smacked the roof of the truck, signaling that Mike had drove them to their destination and Mike eased his truck off the side of the road and parked his truck out of sight. Even though it hadn’t been two days yet to report Patrick and Belch’s disappearances, Sheriff Bowers would most likely be looking for him and for his son; Mike felt a little sick that this is something that they wouldn’t be able to get away with, unless Richie used his abilities of persuasion.

Ugh, whoever murdered people for fun or for money must really know what they’re doing.

Mike grabbed his duffel bag and the rest of his friends followed, Ben leading the way, since he knew the area better. The group made it to the bottom without falling and then they all stood at the gaping maw of the large drain pipe, all them had equally disgusted looks on their face.

“I’ll be surprised if Eddie didn’t kill Patrick with his bare hands for dragging him into this hellhole,” Beverly commented, earning some snickers, but the mood didn’t lighten too much; their friends were still in danger.

“G-got a fl-flashlight?” Bill asked Mike, who dug through his bag, and held it out to his boyfriend. Bill clicked it on before squaring up his shoulders and stepped into the drain pipe.

~~~

Richie had to make himself pause ever so often to listen for any other sounds; he wasn’t for sure what to listen for when it came to another vampire, as the only other vampire around had been his father, who never slinked around, his father _always_ made his presence known.

He gave a hesitant sniff, feeling a disgusted shiver race up and down his spine and gave silent kudos to Patrick for picking a place that would mask his dead smell, since everything down here smelled like piss, shit, and decay.

Dodging puddles of horrors was difficult to do, but Richie managed to get through an open room that had a couple ladders that were gated off, he assumed sewage workers would come down here, but he glanced at the closest ladder to him and saw that the padlock was rusted and wouldn’t be able to open the gated area without cutting the lock off.

Hm, great city maintenance here, folks.

Richie passed through that room and then turned left when he heard a flutter of a heartbeat in the distance that grew louder the closer he got, and without a doubt, it was Eddie’s, he knew that heartbeat anywhere. He tried to move quickly, anticipation filled his nerves, he was closer to finding his boyfriend, but so was he getting to finding the danger that took Eddie from him in the first place.

Rage overcame him and Richie had to stop for a moment, before he made too much racket and alerted Hockstetter; Richie was _too _close to fuck up now and he mentally relaxed before creeping forward down the slightly shorter canal, he had to crouch a bit to get through it and he felt like he was exposed here; it made his skin crawl.

He finally got through the narrower drain and ended up in a massive room where it looked like tons of random items got swept down here, from children’s toys, to tires, pieces of cars, and tons of other garbage; he thought he even saw a clown sign, which, he mentally said _fuck_ _that._

Then he heard it, an actual breath and Richie honed in on the sound and bypassed the mountain of trash and Richie came face-to-face with a sight that filled him with relief as it did with shock.

Eddie was alive, but tied to what looked like a metal connecting pipe that went from the ground, straight up to the ceiling as some sort of support beam, his boyfriend was unconscious with duct tape slapped across his mouth, but what terrified him was that only a few feet away from Eddie was the torn up remains of Bowers; the body was already decomposed, Richie could see his skull where the hair and flesh had fallen away; Henry’s right hand and left leg were completely missing, it seems that Patrick had only found some of his remains, as Richie had scattered them.

Richie didn’t dwell on it much longer, he hurried over to Eddie and easily tore through the rope and then carefully removed the tape from Eddie’s mouth, “Eddie, Eds, _hey_,” he whispered hurriedly, lightly patting his boyfriend on the cheek. “Wake up,” he commanded as gently as he could and he exhaled softy in relief when he saw Eddie’s eyes flutter open weakly. Richie hastily took of his coat and put it around Eddie’s shoulders, watching his boyfriend unconsciously grip at it to help his body gather warmth.

Eddie gave him a blank look, obviously not registering who was before him, before he blinked a few times in bewilderment, “R-Richie?” he gasped quietly. He looked around wildly, “Patrick, he’s—”

“I know,” Richie said, a guilty look on his face, “I’m so sorry, but I promise to take care of it, but I need to get you out of here,” he said, helping Eddie stand up on shaky legs. He startled when Eddie jumped him, squeezing him in a tight hug and Richie couldn’t stop himself from returning it, “I’m so fucking grateful that you’re alive and I can’t believe that you can stand to be near me right now,” he whispered.

“You’re stupid to think that I’d ever be afraid of you,” Eddie murmured. “But we have to go,” he linked his hand with Richie’s. “Before he knocked me out, he was leaving,” his gaze dropped to where Henry was and his face paled, he gagged and hastily squeezed his eyes shut. 

Richie tugged him away, “Let’s go,” he said quickly and started to lead Eddie back to where his was; Eddie kept his eyes shut the entire time. He froze when heard a step from behind them and hastily shoved Eddie to the side and took the blunt of the attack and grimaced when Patrick’s jagged teeth sank into his forearm.

Eddie gasped when Richie was being bitten and immediately kicked Patrick in the head and felt his stomach lurch in disgust when blackened blood exploded from Patrick’s nose and Richie flipped Patrick off him and got back up on his feet.

Richie stood in front of Eddie when Patrick rolled onto all fours, snarling at them like the monster he was and Richie braced himself for Patrick to spring at him. He threw himself forward when he saw Patrick tense and lunge and then Richie shoved Patrick back, “Eddie, go!” he shouted and pulled Patrick into a headlock, struggling a bit as Patrick thrashed wildly.

Eddie looked back at Richie, fear evident in his eyes, “Rich—”

“Go!” Richie shouted again, demand leaking in his voice. He threw himself down overtop of Patrick; he grimaced as Patrick sank his jagged teeth into his arm again, but his hold didn’t faulter.

Eddie, compelled at this point, could only listen, taking off in a sprint, but he couldn’t process the garbled shrieks of Patrick’s anger of him escaping. He went through the tunnel that Richie had emerged from earlier, the same route he had been taken to the heart of the sewer, his mind felt foggy, but Richie’s order cut through the fog to keep spurring him forward until he crashed into a tall figure, who let out a startled gasp, and grabbed Eddie by the shoulders.

“E-Eddie!”

It was Bill, but Eddie couldn’t feel relief, “I have to go,” he whispered, not looking at Bill directly.

“Wh-what’s the matter w-with him?” Bill demanded, looking back at Mike.

Mike frowned, slowly running the beam of light from flashlight in front of Eddie’s face, taking in the slightly glazed look in them, “He looks…drugged?” he sounded uncertain. 

Stan was pushing his way through to the front, he got by Bill, “Eddie!” he shouted, it seemed to startle the other boy a bit. “Snap the fuck out it!” he demanded. He was then grabbing Eddie by the shoulders, shaking him until Eddie seemed to be somewhat more aware of his surroundings, “Eddie,” Stan breathed out in relief.

“What…” Eddie slowly shook his head, blinking in bewilderment to see all his friends standing there, staring at him with tears of relief in their eyes, and he suddenly had Stan and Beverly hugging him tight. Eddie was shivering, “You guys found me…” he whispered, eyes slowly shutting, hot tears building up behind his eyelids.

“Did Richie find you?” Ben asked when he was next grabbing Eddie to hug him tight.

Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed, “Richie?” he repeated before pulling himself away from his friends. “Richie!” he gasped, whipping around where he had been running from. “He’s back there, fighting Patrick!”

“Let’s go,” Mike’s words were stern and started to jog down the tunnel, gripping the strap of his duffle bag. He made it to the clearing first, Bill and Eddie on his heels, where they saw Richie attempting to break Patrick’s neck, where Patrick continued to snarl, staying twisted up in a ball, bending with the force of Richie’s attack.

Eddie gawked at the sight, it was clear that Richie wasn’t planning on him to come back, as Richie locked up with surprise, allowing Patrick to slip free, those blackened-dead eyes locked on the three humans, before Patrick was charging full-force at the three of them.

Mike barely had time to pull out his hunting knife before Patrick was upon them, eyes blacked out, mouth a gaping maw of jagged fangs, dried blood splatted on his face, the knife wound that Mike had inflicted across Patrick’s jugular was still jagged on the edges, blood dried black on his pale, ashen skin.

It was horrendous to see it all up close that Mike couldn’t stop Patrick from slamming into Eddie, taking the shorter boy down immediately, like wolf onto its lesser prey. 

Stan and Beverly started to scream in fear, Bill, Ben, and Mike remained frozen in shock, unprepared to handle anything in regards to the supernatural as Patrick was anything but human at this point.

Richie was over there in less than a heartbeat, hauling Patrick off Eddie and throwing him across the open room, he could smell Eddie’s blood as Patrick raked his nails across Eddie’s arm; he almost lost himself. He focused on the objective as Patrick settled back onto his feet and Richie felt himself slide back at the force of the zombie-vampire hybrid charging at him; Richie gritted his teeth when he wasn’t fast enough to stop Patrick from biting into the meat of his shoulder and sinking his teeth in harshly, trying to rip him apart.

Patrick screamed as he was stabbed in his back, he whipped around, snarling at Mike as Richie’s blood dripped down his chin. He glowered at Mike, about to lash out before Richie pushed the knife deeper into his back, ripping the blade clear through his back, severing the spine; Patrick dropped like a puppet.

Bill and Beverly were stood protectively in front of Eddie, as Stan and Ben were behind them, knelt next to Eddie, Stan was acting as support and Ben had gently pushed down the coat that had been around Eddie’s shoulders, as it was now soaked, he was now taking off his own jacket to use it as a large bandage to stop the bleeding and protect Eddie’s arm from getting infected.

Mike and Richie stood over Patrick’s twitching form, Richie held the hunting knife in his hand, as the older man was leering up at Richie, hatred burned in his eyes as he stared up at Richie, blood oozed from his mouth as blackened blood poured freely from the giant split in his back.

“T-this isn’t o-over, Tozier,” Patrick gritted out.

Richie looked down at him, face devoid of any expression, “It is,” he concluded, crouching down to grab a fistful of Patrick’s head and yanked his head back, hearing Patrick gurgle, Richie didn’t hesitate to bring the blade clear through Patrick’s neck; Richie dropped his head as the eyes rolled back up into the skull.

Mike gagged, hastily looking away, “Do we burn the remains?” he asked when he felt like it wasn’t going to vomit.

“No,” Richie shook his head. “The fumes down here could cause a gas explosion, I’ll handle it,” he stated and then looked sternly at Mike, “much more carefully,” he promised.

Stan and Ben helped a shaky Eddie back up to his feet, the shorter took a hesitant step forward, his heart was hammering when he saw how feral Richie looked, face covered in his own blood splatter, his shirt was in tatters, more strips of cloth than a T-shirt at this point.

They locked eyes and Eddie wanted to come closer, despite every fiber in his being telling him to run away. He hated that vacant look in Richie’s eyes even more, so it didn’t require much thought to get his legs moving and he was over to Richie within a few strides, he ignored the blackened, cool blood that made contact with his skin as he intertwined his fingers with Richie’s, “What are we going to do?”

Richie looked among the group, “You all need to go home…I’ll handle this,” his gaze cut to Patrick’s severed head and his eye twitched a couple times before his eyes then landed onto Eddie, now looking equally relieved and clear exhaustion somewhat clouded that relief.

“Vampires need to be—”

“I know, Mike,” Richie cut him off, his words were just tired at this point, he saw the farmer nod at him. “He wasn’t fully fledged; I doubt he would have even survived long even if we didn’t kill him, but I’ll be diligent just in case anyway.”

Eddie tugged slightly on Richie’s hand to get his boyfriend’s attention, “Please come see me when you’re done,” he pleaded softly and saw the remaining resolve of Richie’s will break, the taller yanking him into a tight hug, lukewarm cheek pressing against his own; Eddie thought Richie was crying by the slight tremors running through his lanky body.

“I swear it,” Richie murmured, leaning back to press a quick kiss to Eddie’s forehead before nudging him towards the direction of Beverly and Ben. He rolled his shoulders somewhat, like he was brace himself for this mess, “I’ll see you in a few.”

The group took that as their cue to get the fuck out, because personally, none of them wanted to know what was going to happen to the pieces of Patrick and the remains of Henry, so the group was quick to hurry out, but taking care to make sure their clothes didn’t snag on anything, or to leave any smears of shoeprints or handprints on any surface in case the police decided to check the sewer.

Mike headed out first, carefully surveying the area before jogging over to his truck and his friends followed, Eddie was sat between him and Beverly, as he was shivering and Mike shrugged off his thick coat, dropping it over Eddie’s shoulders. “Did you want to come back to my place and get cleaned up?” he asked.

“Yea, I don’t know how my mom will react,” Eddie felt another wave of shivers that mostly fear at that point. Sure, he’s now stood his ground against his mom, but he wasn’t about to face her wrath when he’s been out of the house for a day or more.

The drive was tense and quiet, Eddie was glad that no one was pressing at him for answers, mostly his thoughts were clouded and he was so fucking tired and all he really wanted right now was a hot shower, maybe a few shots of tequila, and go the fuck to sleep.

School meant absolute jackshit to him right now, as did any other responsibilities; his skin crawled as did his brain, all he could really remember from being kidnapped was waking up and seeing Henry’s mutilated corpse, the pieces of his body had been put near each other.

Patrick had been spouting off some weird bullshit like “an eye for an eye” type of logic, but Eddie had been too terrified to even process what the clearly undead and unhinged man had been saying, because Eddie thought he was going to die.

He startled when he felt Beverly’s warm hand wrapped around his chilled one and Eddie felt her squeeze lightly; he didn’t the strength to do that, he just let his eyes slide shut, ignored the burning sensation from the claw marks on his arm, and hoped that they made it to Mike’s farm quickly as possible.

~~~

Eddie must have passed out, because he was coming back to wakefulness when he felt himself being lightly nudged, before being shaken and Eddie blinked his bleary eyes until he saw Mike’s house in front of him and Eddie wept; he was safe.

Mike looked alarmed, “Eddie! Are you hurting, what’s wrong?”

“I didn’t think I’d be saved in time,” Eddie choked out softly through his tears. “I knew Patrick was going to kill me, he was pissed what happened to Henry; he _knew_ that Richie killed him.”

Beverly was fighting back tears, “We weren’t going to just leave you to die, Eddie,” she said sternly. “Richie wouldn’t let that happen either, he basically went batshit to find you.”

Eddie saw their other friends gathering around the truck, Stan, Bill, and Ben looking at him through the passenger side door window with such concern that Eddie almost started to sob more; he hadn’t realized how much his friends had cared.

“C’mon, let’s get you inside and cleaned up,” Mike prompted him kindly. “My uncle is probably still out fishing with the Jefferson’s and my cousins are mostly likely back at their homes.”

Beverly helped Eddie slide out of the truck, letting Bill take over to help Eddie almost hobble to Mike’s house and they were all relieved when the house turned out to be empty.

Mike didn’t have to tell Bill to take Eddie to the bathroom, as his boyfriend was already helping Eddie up the stairs, Stan lingering a few steps behind, looking distressed about the whole situation, despite Eddie being safe with them.

“I’ll start up some hot cocoa,” Ben murmured, familiar with the layout of Mike’s farm house, as they all grew up together. He felt Beverly grab his hand and they went to the kitchen to clean themselves up a little, washing off dirt from their hands before getting mugs out for everyone.

Mike peered out the screen door, squinting somewhat out towards at the barn, seeing if Richie had materialized out there, but the only thing that moved out there was the leafless tree just a little further out from the barn.

He shut the wooden door and deadbolted it, even though they were safe; Mike still found his hands shaking even after he stuffed away his duffel bag in the chest in his bedroom. He found that Bill and Stan were standing guard at the bathroom at the end of the hall, the bathroom door was firmly shut, both of the two boys looked exhausted; it was going to be a long night.

The hot cocoa was done by the time Mike came back downstairs, the steamy mugs were sitting on the wooden coffee table and Mike thanked the couple and grabbed one, blowing a little before taking a timid sip, fighting back a wince as the heat stung his upper lip.

Stan had come downstairs, looking exhausted, “Bill’s staying upstairs with Eddie, they’re in your room, I think Bill’s getting him some of your old pajamas,” he informed Mike.

“That’s fine,” Mike replied, he gestured to the cooling drinks, which Stan hesitated on grabbing, “Stupid question, but are you all right?” Mike asked when Stan sat down.

Beverly and Ben looked at the blonde from the love couch, they kept quiet when Stan slowly shook his head, not looking up from the mug in his hands.

“It’s all fucked up,” Stan muttered quietly, the three of them having to strain to hear him. “I don’t know…how to handle the fact that…that vampires—_Christ_, this sounds so fucking stupid!” Stan snapped, suddenly angry. He sat his drink down, the liquid almost sloshed over the rim, “I need to go on a walk.”

“It could be dangerous!” Ben said quickly and heard Stan scoff, which had Ben flinching back at the harsh sound, Beverly narrowed her eyes at Stan a little at the rude sound he made.

Stan didn’t say anything and just moodily left the three behind and had to make himself ease the front door shut, instead of just stalking out how he wanted to express his anger.

Ben went to go follow after him, worry written heavily on his face before he felt Mike grab him gently by the shoulder, which had him turn to look at the farmer boy in confusion.

Mike sighed quietly, “He’ll be fine, Ben,” he tried to reassure his friend and watched Ben dejectedly go sit back down, Beverly had sat next to her boyfriend, murmuring soothingly to him.

He felt bad that drinks that Beverly and Ben prepared were going to waste, but he was too tired of dealing with the supernatural to care; Mike slumped down into the armchair and felt his eyelids slip shut.

~~~

Stan let out a shuddery breath, the tears that clung to his eyelashes felt like they were freezing over as the sun mostly gone, the outside barn light had kicked on, which startled him and he felt his face warm up in embarrassment to get scared by a fucking light.

He stood with his back to the barn doors and lifted his hands to wipe at his eyes; he was planning on going to the fawn enclosure that Mike had constructed for the baby deer he had recused. Stan stopped wiping at his eyes when he had better control of his emotions and stuck his hands into his pockets and when he lifted his head, Richie was suddenly standing before him and Stan fell back in shock against the barn doors.

The dark-haired boy stood there rigidly, despite his collected composure, dark eyes watching Stan carefully, hands tucked into his clean jean pockets, and his cheeks and nose had a slight pink tinge to them.

_Like he was human_. Stan’s mind supplied unhelpfully. His heart was racing and he saw Richie’s head slightly tilt to the side, “Stop being such a freak, Tozier,” Stan barked. He was flustered and it unnerved him when Richie merely gave him a sharp smile, “You’re an asshole,” Stan muttered, looking away from the taller boy.

“Sorry,” Richie apologized, though his tone rung hollow. “Guess you aren’t handling things that well,” he at least sounded sheepish about that. He gave the farm house a cursory glance before giving Stan his attention again, “From the sounds of it, no one is.”

“Sorry that not all of us are use to murder and the supernatural, when we’ve all grown with mostly normal lives,” Stan scoffed, brushing his blonde-ish curls from his face when the wind came whipping by. 

Richie hummed at that, shifting back his weight onto his heels, letting his shoulders untense, “You’re right, I shouldn’t have expected you guys to just recover from that,” he agreed easily.

Stan thought Richie was looking a little too somber, but the deeply, pensive shine in his dark eyes clearly told him the vampire was anything other than passive right now.

“Hypothetically speaking,” Richie paused for a moment before licking his lips in a nervous habit, “if…if you could choose to forget, no consequences, nothing but your normal life again, would you choose it?”

“What kind of fucking question is that?” Stan scowled. “No offense, but I’d rather have the upper hand over the monsters, because they think that I don’t know shit.”

Richie let out a startled laugh, before an easy grin slid onto his face, “Yes, I guess you’re right about that.”

“By the way, if you try any of your vampire/Jedi mind trick shit on me, I’ll literally hate you until my dying breath,” Stan warned him, which had Richie letting out a nervous chuckle, which then had him narrowing his eyes at the vampire. “You’re not slick, Tozier.”

“I just don’t want this to fuck you guys up forever,” Richie said quietly, shoulders slumping unhappily. “None of you asked for this,” he murmured, “you could have had a normal life.”

“Yea, but I’m not dating you, Eddie is, so I think my life isn’t going to be too fucked up, but Eddie has already been weird from the get-go; you won’t make it any worse, so you’ve got nothing to worry about,” Stan gave him a kind smile.

“Staniel, have you considered on being a therapist?” Richie asked, his words somewhat watery, which the other curly haired boy was giving him a bewildered look when it looked like Richie was actually going to cry.

“Ew,” Stan wrinkled his nose. “I can’t handle people and their over the top emotions.”

“Fair enough,” Richie replied, he wasn’t going to argue with the fact that he was undead and sometimes didn’t feel shit, as the only two women in his life felt things on the daily and he wasn’t for sure how to handle the waterworks; it was already hard enough watching Eddie angry cry at him if he didn’t use Germ-X after touching a door handle.

Stan was relieved to see that Richie looked more lifelike than before, “So, since you’re not going to mindwipe us all, maybe you should go check on Eddie…I kind of made a scene, so…I’m just going to wait a bit before going back inside.”

Richie shook his head, “You shouldn’t be out here, it’s getting dark and it’s cold; humans lose their already barely there sanity in the dark and the cold,” he grabbed Stan lightly by the crook of his elbow and guided him back towards Mike’s house.

The two ended up on the front porch in no time and Richie knocked briskly on the screen door and ignored Stan’s mutterings at him, he focused on the heavy, sleepy steps coming to the front door and saw Mike’s bewildered face through the glass.

Mike opened the door, seeing Stan there too, and he relaxed a little, seeing that his friend looked more unamused, “I’ve never thought that vampires were nice enough to knock,” he mused, moving out the way to let Stan in.

Stan paused and turned around to look at Richie, “Are you able to come in, or do you need permission?” he mockingly asked.

Richie narrowed his eyes and rushed by the both of them, “All that is bullshit by the way, I, on the other hand, was just being polite, because my momma didn’t raise a monster.”

Stan scoffed at that, as Mike rolled his eyes, but they both wore matching amused grins.

Ben and Beverly rushed out the kitchen at the sound of Richie’s voice, both of them jumped at him, but Richie didn’t even budge from it. 

Richie smiled at them, letting them hug onto him until they got their fill before backing off. “You guys were brave,” Richie said, but there was a slight firmness in his eyes, “stupid, but brave.”

“You were stupid to run off on your own,” Beverly countered, her green eyes were sharp and didn’t lose the anger even when Richie looked a little sheepish.

“Sorry for locking you guys in the clubhouse, but I wasn’t going to let Patrick hurt you guys or use you as leverage against me either; he already had Eddie,” Richie reminded them. “But, all that matters is that you’re all okay,” he murmured, relieved, glancing to each the ones in the living room; his gaze cut to Stan briefly, which the blonde rolled his eyes at him.

“Physically, yes, but mentally, we’re going to need a bit to cope, but don’t think you can just block our memories,” Stan said a bit curtly, to which, Richie gave a half-assed non-threatening gesture with his hands.

“We’ll get over it, Rich,” Ben said reassuringly. “I mean…it was only murder,” he muttered, sheepishly rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Only,” Richie agreed tonelessly. He looked over to Mike, “You sure that you’re okay? I mean, you did kill Patrick to make sure that I lived and go down a disgusting sewer to just assist me in killing Patrick…again.”

Mike shrugged a bit helplessly, “To be completely honest, I think I’ve pushed that to the furthest point of my brain; it was the right thing to do.”

Richie gave him a sympathetic look, “I still feel like I forced your hand.”

“It’s my family’s job to take down the bad supernatural beings,” Mike stated, though, there wasn’t much pride in his voice. He saw that Richie didn’t look too convinced, but the vampire didn’t voice it and Mike wasn’t into the mood to argue; he was too exhausted for any more fights.

But before anything else could be said, Beverly grabbed Richie’s hand, “You need to talk to Eddie, Rich. He’s been a mess…which is completely understandable,” she said and nodded towards the stairs.

Richie looked hesitant to do so, but the stern look the redhead was giving him made him start to feel guilty; he was scared that he’d upset Eddie more than he already was, because he hadn’t been deaf to Eddie’s quiet sobbing from upstairs.

He took a deep breath that he didn’t need before facing the stairs and looked at Mike in silent confirmation if he was allowed to go upstairs and the other boy nodded at him, and Richie carefully made his way upstairs; he didn’t need to be told where Eddie was, just following his scent to what he presumed to be Mike’s room, which Bill was there too, as there were two different sets of heartbeats coming from behind the closed bedroom door.

Richie stood stiffly at the closed door, like he was feeling threatened by a slab of wood, he lifted a lightly closed fist and knocked softly, he heard shuffling feet coming to the door and it carefully swung open and he saw Bill’s tired face, which the slightly taller human blinked sleepily at him before recognition slid onto his face.

“R-Richie?” Bill whispered, hastily looking back into the somewhat dark room and stepped out, lightly pushing the vampire back and quietly shut the bedroom behind him. “W-when did y-you get h-here?” he asked, voice still soft.

“Not too long ago,” Richie said, feeling anxious, because all he wanted now was to see Eddie. He glanced behind Bill briefly, “Is he all right?” he questioned, worry heavy in his tone.

“He’s o-on and o-ff sl-sleeping,” Bill informed him. “H-he’s a wr-wreck, Rich,” he frowned. “N-Not because o-of you th-though,” he reassured him. “I k-know he’d w-want t-to see you.”

Richie could tell that he wasn’t lying and Bill genuinely believed that Richie could fix this, even though the supernatural being felt like he was going to make things worse, but he knew he couldn’t abandon Eddie like this, not even if he thought it would make things better if Richie pulled himself out of the picture.

He squared up his shoulders and took a slow, unnecessary breath before nodding to Bill and slid past him to open the door and walked into the mostly dark room, the bedside lamp was on and Eddie’s back was to it.

Bill had turned and lightly squeezed at Richie’s shoulder before pulling away and softly closed the door, leaving just Richie and Eddie in Mike’s room, but he wasn’t nervous to do that, he trusted Richie; he protected them all.

Somehow, facing Patrick was less daunting than what Richie was going to have to deal with now, Richie reminded himself that Bill had no reason to lie to him, unless it was what Bill believed; maybe Eddie didn’t want to see Richie after all and if that was the truth, Richie really hoped that he could erase his own memories of Eddie.

He realized that he had been standing there for a few minutes in complete utter silence, the only thing that could be heard occasionally was Eddie’s sniffling and him quietly shifting around to get comfortable and Richie took a hesitant step forward to bring himself more into the center of the room, versus lurking by the bedroom door like a creep.

His curious, yet worried gaze traced over Eddie, he could still see his boyfriend shivering under the thick duvet, the blanket drawn up to his chin and Richie made himself move forward to sit on the edge of the bed, staring down at his shoes.

“I’m fine, Bill,” came Eddie’s hoarse voice, but he didn’t lift his head to look at the person he thought it was coming to comfort him again.

“You’re not though,” Richie answered and he heard Eddie’s heartbeat skip and he slowly turned his head to look over at his boyfriend, who was staring at him with shock, like he couldn’t believe that Richie would actually be there. “You asked that I promise to come see you, so I’m here,” he reminded softly, almost timid, as he wasn’t for sure if Eddie would have changed his mind.

He was a little startled to see Eddie move to sit up and basically lunge at him and Richie opened his arms to catch Eddie before he fell off the bed and Richie felt Eddie’s arms tighten around him, squeezing him tight.

“You didn’t leave,” Eddie whispered, tightening his fingers in Richie’s sweater and he felt Richie’s arms gently squeeze around him, feelings those pale, slim fingers slid up his back, one of Richie’s chilly palms sliding up to cup the back of his neck, fingers combing through his still damp hair.

Richie pressed his cheek against the top of Eddie’s head, breathing in the soft, subtle scent of the shampoo and let out a soft sigh, “I thought about it though,” he whispered truthfully and felt Eddie stiffen in his arms. “I’ve been nothing but a terror in your life, Eddie,” he said mournfully, but his arms still held Eddie tightly to him.

“You haven’t,” Eddie argued, he gently pressed his lips to Richie’s throat and felt Richie’s fingers tighten a little in his hair. “You saved me, Richie.”

“You wouldn’t have even been in that situation in the first place if I hadn’t—”

“Stop,” Eddie gently shushed him, pulling back a little to look his boyfriend in the eye, he gazed between both of his eyes, seeing nothing but regret and sorrow there and Eddie hated to see Richie so upset. “If I didn’t want to be with you, I wouldn’t be.”

Richie shook his head in slight disbelief, letting out a soft scoff, but he wasn’t dismissing Eddie’s statement and wasn’t for sure what to say, other than to kiss him, which Eddie happily kissed him back. He pulled back slowly and stroked Eddie’s cheek softly with his thumb, “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Not to be a dick, but that already kind of happened,” Eddie murmured and saw Richie guiltily look away. “But I’m alive and everything is going to be okay,” he said matter-of-factly and cupped Richie’s jaw.

Richie let out a hiccupping laugh that turned into a sob and he clutched Eddie to him, “I’m so fucking sorry, Eddie,” he could feel faint tears running his cheeks, before they dried up; he had exerted the remainder of the human blood in his system.

Eddie held Richie gently and carded his fingers carefully through the other man’s dark curls, “It’s okay and it’s going to be okay,” he murmured soothingly.

“I should be the one comforting you, you were the one who was abducted,” Richie said, he felt somewhat shy when Eddie carefully wiped away his tears and Richie saw the troubled look in his boyfriend’s eyes. Richie felt guilt that he couldn’t take those memories from Eddie, because he didn’t have any fresh blood and he was sure that Eddie would be upset if he did that…again.

“S’okay, I mean…I’m just glad I made it out alive,” Eddie shrugged, even though he could feel the tremors coming back he tried to bottle the panic he could feel trying to bubble up. “I can’t promise that I’ll magically heal overnight,” he tried to joke, but it fell weak.

“I don’t expect you to be,” Richie agreed quietly. “And if you’ll have me, I’ll help you through it,” his gaze lingered on Eddie’s wrapped arm where Patrick had clawed him.

Eddie felt his heart soften at that and he smiled, “Thank you, Richie,” he kissed his boyfriend’s cheek, feeling that he was much cooler to the touch. “Maybe one day I can return the favor,” he said sheepishly and saw Richie’s confusion, “I can help you with the your…cold traits.”

Richie immediately closed off at that, “Another conversation for another day,” he really hoped that it wouldn’t be brought back up, because the last thing he wanted to think about was feeding off Eddie.

Eddie sensed the change and tugged on Richie’s sweater sleeve, “Come lie down with me.”

“I don’t think Mike would fancy us doing the dirty in his good Christian home,” Richie muse and heard Eddie scoff at him, but Richie did what he was told. He lied on his side and smiled faintly when Eddie twined their fingers together and placed their hands between them and he let out a soft sigh, “I don’t get tired, but I genuinely believe that I could sleep a solid ten-hours.”

“Then sleep,” Eddie prompted, lightly squeezing at Richie’s fingers. “We’re safe, our friends are right downstairs, Patrick’s dead for real, and you’re here with me.”

“My brave little human,” Richie teased and leaned forward to kiss Eddie before flopping back onto his side and giggled when Eddie let out a playful growl. “Will you get some sleep?”

“Maybe,” Eddie whispered, he was also tired, but he wasn’t for sure if he’d sleep steadily throughout the night. “Is your sister doing okay?” he asked after a moment of silence and found himself staring at Richie, even after Richie’s eyes had slid shut; it was just unnerving, as Richie was eerily still and he didn’t breathe.

“She was very happy and upset,” came Richie’s sleepy murmur. “I promised to make her and mom dinner sometime this week as an apology.”

“You can cook, despite not eating?” Eddie asked him.

Richie hummed, “Mmhm, I’ll make you dinner too, it’s the least I can do.”

“I want extra garlic in whatever your making,” Eddie teased and heard Richie let out a soft scoff. “What?”

“Garlic is bullshit, it doesn’t hurt vampires,” Richie explained, his eyes were tired slits as he looked at Eddie. “My dad was a fully-fledged vampire and the sun, nor holy water, or salt, or garlic, or crucifixes harmed him.”

Eddie gave him a bewildered look, “Then…then, how did he die?” he whispered, feeling guilty about prying, but Richie didn’t seem bothered by it.

“My mother killed him,” Richie said simply. “Beheaded him, because he wanted to turn me completely, but I didn’t want it, threatened to turn Kimmy too.”

“Holy shit,” Eddie whispered and heard Richie hum agreement. He stared at Richie, “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you asked and I don’t want to keep anything from you, you deserve to know about me and my family, because—” Richie froze up, sleep suddenly being the last thing he wanted. He pretended though, letting out an exaggerated yawn and heard Eddie question him, “It’s nothing.”

“You just said you wouldn’t keep any secrets from me,” Eddie reminded him somewhat curtly and saw that Richie looked somewhat reluctant to speak and Eddie gave him an expectant look.

“I don’t want to keep anything from you, because…because I,” Richie struggled somewhat and it didn’t help that Eddie was giving him a patient look and the taller let out a shuddery breath, “_because_, I love you, Eddie,” he confessed, afraid of what was to come next.

There was a long moment of silence and Eddie blinked owlishly at Richie in disbelief.

“_Oh_,” Eddie finally whispered and saw that Richie look mildly uncomfortable to leave his heart out in the open like that. “You know that I love you too, right?”

“Eddie, I don’t want you to feel obligated that you have to return my feelings, if you don’t feel the same way,” Richie told him.

“If I didn’t, I know I wouldn’t have asked you to come see me, let alone cuddle up with me on Mike’s bed,” Eddie huffed out a quiet laugh. “But I do love you, Richie Tozier and don’t you forget it.”

Richie thought his eyes were watering again and all he could do was sweep Eddie close and kiss him and when he had to pull back, he nuzzled his nose along Eddie’s temple, “I could kiss you all night.”

“As much as I enjoy your sappiness, you should probably get some sleep,” Eddie said and wiggled a little to get comfortable. “Sleep, Richie,” he murmured, toying with his boyfriend’s hair.

“If you need anything, you can wake me up,” Richie reminded him and felt the exhaustion slowly settling bone deep; he almost felt human and his eyes slipped shut at the relaxing sensation of Eddie’s fingers carefully petting through his hair.

Eddie nodded, he was tired too, but he wasn’t going to sleep just yet and he found comfort playing with Richie’s hair, seeing that Richie had fallen asleep as Eddie was gingerly tracing the slope of Richie’s nose and ghosting his fingers across Richie’s sharp cheekbones and his boyfriend wasn’t reacting in the slightest.

He cupped Richie’s face, “You’re certainly not same old, same old, like this stupid town,” Eddie whispered. He was content though, to have some normality for right now; he knew it would help with his recovery after his kidnapping and near-death experience and he was going to help Richie too.

This was certainly the turning of Eddie’s views of Derry and reality itself and while some of it had been traumatic, Eddie wasn’t afraid to face it, not when he had his friends and he was not going to fear anything when he Richie by his side, but for now, even though he was exhausted and shaken to his very core, he was going to be Richie’s protector.

He snickered softly though, to be the human protecting the supernaturally strong vampire and Eddie smiled when Richie let out a sleepy sigh and wrapped his arms around Eddie, drawing him close.

Eddie felt his eyes droop heavily too and he tucked his face up against Richie’s neck; feeling safe and protected, “Fine, guess you can protect me too,” he murmured sleepily

“Always will,” Richie promised.

Eddie fell asleep to Richie tracing patterns on his back; they’d be okay.


End file.
